Houston Astros versus New York Yankees ALCS preview

The Houston Astros will once again face off against the New York Yankees in the ALCS. Let’s take a look at how these two teams match up against each other.

It was pretty much expected and probably what most baseball pundits wanted, the best two teams in the American League battling it out for the right to play in the World Series. Beginning Saturday evening, the Astros will host the Yankees in a rematch of the 2017 ALCS that went down to the wire in an epic seven-game series.

Houston and New York ended the season with the best records in the American League, with the Astros 107-55 record topping the Yankees 103-59 season. Houston didn’t clinch home-field advantage over New York until the very end of the season with just two games remaining.

There are a lot of similarities between these two teams, and I’m anticipating another knock-down, drag-out series like the one we experienced two years ago. So strap yourselves in for another rollercoaster ride of an ALCS battle between the Astros and the Yankees.

"“I almost think the teams mirror each other with one exception: the Astros have the best starting pitching, but the Yankees have the best bullpen,” said former Yankees slugger and current FOX Sports analyst Alex Rodriguez. “So it’s a matter of who performs better and who executes the fundamentals.”"

The two teams have faced each other seven times this year with the Astros taking the season series 4-3. The team playing at home seemed to have a definite advantage with Houston getting the sweep at Minute Maid Park and the Yankees taking three out of four on their turf, emphasizing the importance of that all-important home-field advantage in a series of this magnitude.