The Indians top 4 starters are actually better than ours, so I think fans need to be a little careful in thinking they are the easiest target. One of Cleveland's biggest regular season shortcomings (the terrible 5th starter) is completely eliminated in the postseason. The Yankees and A's pitching staffs are far more vulnerable, I would take them in a heartbeat over Cleveland.
Bauer is no lock to make the ALDS, and if he does, it might not be as a starter. I've been saying this for weeks: ANYTHING can happen in a short series. But I think the Astros are a significantly better team than Cleveland, and I expect the ALDS to play out very similar to last year's ALDS with Boston. Some tense moments; maybe a thorough beating in one game - but for the Astros to prevail rather easily.
While nothing is ever guaranteed, sometimes there are clear preferred opponents, like the Twins last year. He's a lock to make the ALDS roster unless he injures himself. Their bullpen is so terrible they are going to carry him. Like I said in that same post, they may be better off going with Clevinger in the rotation and pitching Bauer out of the pen. Trying to keep it to where they don't use much outside of their big 3, Clevinger and Miller. They'll probably throw in Cody Allen and Oliver Perez if they need to.
Just imagine if only there was just a really quick way to increase spin rate. Like what if you could [...] bump his spin rate a couple hundred rpm overnight against Tyler Bauer.
I never cared about the AL when the Astros were in the NL. That said, since I check the standings every day, I at least get to see the interesting race going on in the otherwise sad NL. If everything stays the same from this point, both Wild Card teams will come from the NL Central, and the Dodgers will win the NL West. However, the Rockies are 0.5 games back from wresting the second Wild Card spot from StL. Furthermore, they're only 1.5 games back in the NL West. Personally, I think the Rockies making the playoffs sounds interesting just because the Rockies don't get there very often. I'm even more interested in the possibility of the Rockies taking the NL West, StL taking the second Wild Card and the Dodgers not even making the playoffs. Only a couple games need to flip in various directions between a few teams. Having the Dodgers in the playoffs with us this year just sounds so boring, especially once the media starts to push the rematch narrative.
Cleveland is probably the team I worry about the most because of their rotation. I'm very confident with us going against Boston and their rotation.
I'm too lazy to look up our stats against Cleveland's rotation but I know we struggled against them in the past. I believe we split the series this year. Kluber seems to do very really against Houston. We could have been 4-2 this year but we totally had that meltdown where we gave up like 5 runs in a game. Granted that was Giles and Harris but still isn't ideal. We all know regular season and postseason are two different animals. This will be a tough series any way you look at it. I hope our offense is there because you have to attack their bullpen.
I was watching Boston/Clev game on Sunday night and the ESPN TV crews picked Cleveland as the top team right now over Astros, Boston, Yanks and Oakland in the AL. I’m like “WTH”, are they trying to say nice things about the Indians so they can leave the stadium without getting pizza or beer thrown at them.
This. I know that the Indians did not win 100+ games but they have as good, or better a rotation as we have. I would argue that the top of the rotation is as good as ours too. Bauer/Kluber/Clevinger/Carrasco can match up with anyone in the league and Kluber can go on short rest. The Indians line up lacks depth but they have two franchise bats (Ramirez and Lindor) and a couple of other guys like Brantley and Encarnacion that can beat you. We have the advantage in the line up depth wise but it isn't a walk in the park. The Astros should have an advantage in the pen. The Indians lack depth in their pen, but they do have Miller healthy, an up and down Cody Allen and Brad Hand as a closer. If the Indians get 6-7 innings out of their starters, they can go Miller/Hand and be very tough to beat. The Indians also have some good defenders up the middle. Astros would and should be favored, but the A's and possibly Yankees are easier draws.
Take out the 5th starter and our rotation really isn't. Add in Charlie Morton leaving his last start, you have to start being concerned. Kluber > Verlander Bauer > Cole Carrasco > Keuchel Maybe Bauer's rust evens that out with Cole. JV & Kluber are pretty close. Maybe Morton is fine and can be equal to Carrasco. With Boston: Sale > JV (though late season has always been a Sale equalizer) Price < Cole Rodriguez = Keuchel Clear advantage against the A's and Yankees in terms of rotation. I'll be interested to see who we go with in Game 3. I think we most likely go with 4 man rotation, but we'll see about that too.
Yes and it doesn't necessarily mean the Astros "choked" or "didn't compete". The game of baseball has a lot of luck involved and small margins of error.
I would take JV over anyone in the league. Cole is better than Price and Bauer easily. But hey, you keep hating on the home team if it makes you feel special.
Was watching MLB Central this morning and it's interesting how they view the favorites. I would say 60% of the people on the show feel confident that Houston is still the team to beat in the AL. One of the commentators was pointing out how he doesn't see Houston getting past the Red Sox based on how Altuve, Springer, and Correa are playing offensively. He doesn't think they have the offense to match the Red Sox. Mad Dog was on and he completely argued that he can't trust the Red Sox period because of their track record in the past two post seasons. Mad Dog said that Boston is like 1-7 in the post season. It's going to be a great postseason imo.
Astros and Indians starters are tied in fWAR. Indians were ahead recently. Astros had been leading by a comfortable margin most of the year.
I agree with that. I don’t see a favorable matchup this year though. Everyone has about an equal shot it seems.
I wouldn't. Boston is a much better team than Cleveland and are better built overall for a playoff run
