[Unofficial 2017 ALCS] New York Yankees vs. Houston Astros

Did you see who the OP was? Pay attention to that.

 

Have to score early. Their bullpen is no joke.

 

Yup. This is THE key thing in this series. Yanks pen was taxed pretty good against Cleveland though so maybe that will help.

 

SWEEP

 

Yankees are the 2017 version of the 2015 Astros. They're a couple years ahead of schedule and have done better so far in the playoffs on the backs of a top dollar, top mph non-farm system bullpen. At their heart though they're still a three true outcomes team that have a few holdover vets who know how to work counts and frustrate pitchers the way the 2015 Royals did.

The 2017 Astros though are a juggernaut. No longer reliant on the long ball and strikeout-prone, our power resides in the fact that we have absolutely no holes. The last teams that I could think of whose lineups were like ours were the '97-'01 Yankees, and maybe the '00 Mets. Sure, we have no one who hit 100RBI, but era-adjusted we are one of the top ten offenses in MLB history. Combine that with two aces who have a track record of showing up in the playoffs--and not just blowing away the regular season patsies a la Kershaw or Kluber--and we are going to be heavy favorites going into this series.

The great thing is that there are so many degenerate NY airheads out there willing to put money on their team straight up! An opportunity like this doesn't come around that often.

 

All this favorable matchup talk always makes me nervous. Yankees are white hot right now, our boys cannot come out flat.

 

White hot isn't the term I would use.

Cleveland blew it.

 

This is pretty much all the preview this series needs.

Astros did lead MLB in hitting fastballs (w/ the lowest K rate against them), and hitting fastballs over 95 MPH, so there's that.

Keep the ball down and away to Judge. Try not to let Brett Gardner go into full pissant mode.

 

Harrison Barnes looks killer, your Mavs may win 35-40 games this year. Good luck!

 

This and need Devo/Musgrove to bridge the gap in the middle/late innings.

 

Harris too. Pen still makes me nervous.

 

He does that to a lot of people. When i first started posting here, he made me feel very uncomfortable with all the penis jokes

 

And what would you consider our Astros? Cold?

Seriously though, I get where you're coming from. But our least experienced everyday player (Bregs) put 2 jacks on the probable Cy Young winner. Our best player hit 3 home runs in one game. Marwin and that throw from left field, Yuli hitting everything, Keuchel and Verlander and their history vs. the Yankees... of course I'm nervous. We're Houston. We could **** up a wet dream...

But I like this team. I really, really like our chances.

 

I got astros fever. Im camping my happy ass in this forum and primarily this thread for a min.

Ill be more garm happy once the regular season starts.

Thanks for giving true houston sports fans a thread to talk about our ALCS matchup in @swyyyguy

We really needed it.

 

Do you think that Musgrove gets a little more run this series? Considering how good he looked down the stretch, I'm surprised we didn't really see him much vs. the Sox.

 

Sure... they won 90+ games. Any team that can do that has got good parts.

Their strength is the bullpen... which is a great strength to have in these playoffs, where starters aren't routinely going through the order a 3rd time.

Their weakness is hitters that strikeout and starting pitching.

Would be surprised if the media tries to hype up the "yankee mystique" as a factor... as if the Astros didn't go into their house, with a much less experienced team, 2 years ago and wipe the floor with them in a do-or-die game.

 

Oh I don't think there's any doubt.

 

I don't think the Yankees are an easier match-up at all. The clock may have struck midnight on Judge, who knows - but keep in mind: they eliminated a 102-win team while their MVP went 1-20 with 16 Ks - it is almost impossible to be less of a factor while still playing every day. If he's merely slumping and rediscovers his groove, they've got enough offense and a terrific bullpen to be *very* scary; they also get 3 straight home games which makes these first two at MMP vitally important (not that they weren't already, of course).