Wide World of Women

Down 0-2, the Yankees fought back in Game Three and Four at home to force Game Five back in Cleveland. In that game, Didi homered twice, CC struck out nine, Brett Gardner had a clutch two-RBI double in the ninth, and Aroldis Chapman shut the door for two innings to send the Yankees in the ALCS. We are playing for our 41st pennant, but we have to get by the powerhouse Astros. Houston won 101 games this season, and only needed four games to take down the Red Sox in the ALDS, behind pitching from Dallas Keuchel and Justin Verlander, and a powerful lineup consisting of Jose Altuve and Rich Correa, among others. The Astros and Yankees only faced each other once in the postseason: the 2015 American League Wild Card Game. It was Keuchel vs Tanaka, and Dallas shut down the Yankees to advance to the ALDS. That will be the matchup in Game One, and regarding the series as a whole, the Yankees will take this roll we're on and reach the Fall Classic for the first time in eight years.

Prediction: Yankees in 6

#1

One good thing about this matchup is that we'll probably see this on the base paths again...



Yankees have some momentum, but I'd like to see Houston move on. They've been one of the big surprises of the season. (No offense, Altuve!)

Astros 2, Yankees 1

Dallas Keuchel strikes out 10 in Houston's Game One victory.

Astros 2, Yankees 1

Astros pick up a walk off win to earn their first ever 2-0 LCS lead.

Yankees 8, Astros 1

Another shutdown performance by CC and HRs from Todd Frazier and Aaron Judge lead the way for the Yankees in Game 3.

Nice W in front of the home crowd in the Bronx.

Nice to see Todd Frazier get a home run. C.C. Sabithia looks like he could still pitch another few years the way those Houston batters kept scuffling whenever they were at the plate.

Yankees 6, Astros 4

Yankees come back from a 4-0 deficit with big seventh and eighth innings to even the ALCS.

Yankees 5, Astros 0

Masahiro Tanaka shuts down the Astros; Yankees move one win away from the World Series.

Astros 7, Yankees 1

Astros force Game Seven behind key hits and another pitching gem from Verlander.

Houston is simply relentless at home, that could be a factor in Game 7.

True, but the Yankees have a few good things going for us. For one, we won't see Keuchel or Verlander at all. CC is unbeaten this year after a loss, and we're 4-0 this postseason when facing elimination. Now I am in no way, shape, or form saying that it will guarantee certain victory, but those are good omens.

Astros 4, Yankees 0

Morton and McCullers collectively shut down the Yankees to reach the World Series for the second time in franchise history. Astros become the first team in MLB history to win the National League (2005) and American League (2017) pennants.

Play at the plate was obscenely good.

How about Charlie Morton and Lance McCullers--throwing a combined 3 hit shutout?

You also have this nugget too about Houston winning in different leagues.

They also join the cities of Boston (Braves N.L. 1914, Red Sox A.L. multiple times), New York (N.L. Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers and Mets, A.L. Yankees multiple times), Philadelphia (Athletics A.L. 1910, 1911, 1913, Phillies N.L. 1980 and 2009), St. Louis (Browns A.L. 1944, Cardinals N.L. multiple times), and Milwaukee (Braves N.L. 1957, Brewers aka "the Brew Crew" A.L. 1982).

That truly was a high risk/high reward play at the plate, and totally worth it. Absolutely perfect throw.

I also heard the trivia that Carlos Beltran is the first player to play for one team in two leagues in the playoffs since some late 1800's team switched leagues after a playoff run.

For us old fogies, this World Series will feel more like an NLCS.