Astros Beat Yankees To Win American League Pennant

Jose Altuve hit a two run home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on October 19th to beat the New York Yankees 6-4 to win the series 4 games to 2 and send the Houston Astros to the World Series for the second time in three years. The blast was off Yankees’ closer Aroldis Chapman. New York had tied the score at 4 with a two run homer of their own by D.J. LeMahieu off Houston closer Roberto Osuna in the top of the inning, but saw their hopes crushed a few minutes later by Altuve’s homer. With the loss, the Yankees not only didn’t make it to the World Series this year, they also won’t make it to a World Series in the 2010-2019 decade. The last decade without a Yankees World Series appearance was in 1910-1919.

Houston will play the Washington Nationals in the World Series, with the opening game in Houston on October 22nd. The series matches two of the best starting rotations in the majors. Houston will go with Gerritt Cole (20-5, 2.50 ERA, 326 strikeouts in the regular season), Justin Verlander (21-6, 2.58 ERA, 300 strikeouts), and Zach Greinke (8-1, 3.02 with Houston; 18-5, 2.93 overall). Washington will go with some Stephen Strasburg (18-6,3.32) Max Scherzer (11-7, 2.92), and Patrick Corbin (14-7, 3.25).

They’ve got some hitters on those clubs as well. The Nationals are led by Anthony Rendon (.319, 34 HR, 126 RBIs, .412 OBP, 1.010 OPS and a leading candidate for the NL MVP Award) and Juan Soto (.282. 34 HR, 110 RBIs, .401 OBP, .949 OPS). The Astros had 10 players in double figures for home runs, led by AL MVP candidate Alex Bregman, who hit 41 homers with 112 RBIs, a .423 OBP, and a 1.015 OPS. George Springer hit 39 homers with 96 RBIs; under the radar Yuli Gurriel hit 31 with 104 RBIs, and Jose Altuve also hit 31. And while the current thinking among the hip statistically inclined is that batting average is passé and unimportant, the Astros led the majors with a .274 team batting average. The Nationals were sixth at .265. Houston also led the majors in on base percentage (.352) and Washington was second at .342.