Astros vs. Yankees: An analysis that defies explanation!

Astros - Alvarez — WEST PALM BEACH, FL – MARCH 14: Yordan Alvarez #72 of the Houston Astros hits the ball against the Miami Marlins during a spring training game at The Fitteam Ballpark of the Palm Beaches on March 14, 2019 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)

Designated Hitter:

Last, but never least, this brings up the DH for both teams, both of whom are struggling in this series and both of whom have played in all three games.

Edwin Encarnacion, in 12 ABs, has 1 SB, 1 2B, 2 BBs, and 6 SOs, and is showing .083/.214/.381 and a SLG of .167.

Yordan Alvarez has yet to break out this series with 10 ABs, 2 BBs, and 6 SOs, showing .000/.167/.167 and .000 SLG.

Clearly, these two are pretty evenly matched. This position is somewhat of a tie in my eyes.

Astros - ALCS Game 2 — HOUSTON, TEXAS – OCTOBER 13: Carlos Correa #1 of the Houston Astros celebrates with teammates after hitting a walk-off solo home run during the eleventh inning against the New York Yankees to win game two of the American League Championship Series 3-2 at Minute Maid Park on October 13, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Overall Team Stats:

From a team perspective, the Yankees have 109 ABs, 10 Runs, 5 HRs, 10 RBIs, 11 BBs, and 30 SOs with 1 SB. Their collective numbers are .229/.318/.722 with a combined SLG of .404.

Astros with 98 ABs, have a total of 7 Runs, 4 HRs, 6 RBIs, 13 BBs, and a matched 30 SOs and 1 SB. Collectively, they’re at .178/.301/.646 with a SLG of .345.

Take-Away:

Like I said, on paper, things are not looking so good for the Astros. It’s a good thing that we don’t play games on paper, right? Because our eyes are telling us an entirely different story.

On paper, at least, the Yankees have out-hit us, out-scored us, and presumably out-played us. But there’s one thing paper can’t do and that’s account for timing and clutch situations.

Baseball is funny that way and that’s why the games must be played. We can never take anything for granted and numbers NEVER tell the whole story. I think we all know this when we reflect on the things that happened in 2017 when we won the World Series. And while numbers don’t lie, they are not the end-all, be-all when it comes to the game of baseball.

Sadly, there’s no baseball tonight because Mother Nature has seen fit to make sure that Game 4 of the ALCS has been officially postponed until tomorrow night, 7:08 p.m. CDT. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, we’ll have a rematch with Zack Greinke taking the mound and facing off with Masahiro Tanaka.

Let’s Go!

Schedule