Astros Eliminate Yankees From Playoffs

The two teams that will play in the World Series in Major League Baseball have finally been decided. The Washington Nationals will be going up against the Houston Astros. The American League Championship Series just wrapped up. The Astros defeated the New York Yankees to win the American League pennant. The Yankees won the first game of the series in a blowout. However, the Astros were able to rally to win the series in six games. It was another very bitter pill for the Yankee organization to swallow. The team has not played in a World Series since 2009. This is very surprising when you consider all of the money that New York spends on its payroll every year.

The Astros were the better team in every way. There is no question about that. The Yankees lack a dominant ace pitcher. That is something that you need when you are in the playoffs. The Astros have Verlander and Cole. They would both fit into the ace category. However, starting pitching was not the only area where the Astros were superior to the Bronx Bombers. Houston was also better at getting clutch hits with runners in scoring position. The Astros also hit more home runs than the Yankees. They usually hit the homers at very good moments when runners were on base.

The Yankees did not field the ball very well either. Their defensive miscues often led to runs for the Astros. You will usually pay for it when you give the Astros extra outs and open the door for them. The Yankees found that out the hard way. Houston is a very big favorite to win the Fall Classic. Whether or not they will capture the title remains to be seen. They have more talent than the Nationals. Most people who cover baseball on a regular basis would agree with this.

It will be very interesting to see what the Yankees do in the next few months in an attempt to rebound from this humiliating defeat. There has been a lot of talk that New York will be willing to pay Astros starting pitcher Gerrit Cole an enormous amount of money. The Yankees have had a very bad track record where free agents are concerned. Therefore, they might be a tad nervous about giving a huge contract to a player that will only appear in 35 games at the most.