CAN THE NYY “ASTRO”NOMICALLY DEFEAT THIS SEASON’S WINNINGEST TEAM?

Earlier this week the Yankees swept the Minnesota Twins and won the American League Division Series Championship.  Now, beginning tomorrow, they will face their most adverse competitor this season, the Houston Astros.  I have believed for several months that the Astros are the best team in all of baseball.  I’ve also believed that the Yankees have been the second best.

At this point in time, I actually think (for this series) that the Yankees are slightly better than the Astros only because the Astros used a lot of their ammunition to ward off the Tampa Bay Rays during their full 5-game series.  While the Yankees might have too much rest (it will be 4 full days), the Astros had panicked in Game 4 against the Rays and used their ace, Justin Verlander, on only 3 days of rest in which the Rays scored 3 runs in his first inning.  It was clear that he was exerting himself to throw fastballs. 

Too often, managers tend to make erroneous decisions during the playoffs.  If a team has a decent bullpen, why not use them?  Why change it up and slight the bullpen pitchers who got you to the playoffs?

Besides the fact that the Astros ended up losing Verlander’s short-rested game, the other negativity for them is that they can’t use him in tomorrow’s first American League Championship Series.  Instead, they are forced to use their third best starter (Zack Greinke).

Additionally, because the Astros had to start their second-best pitcher (Gerrit Cole) last night, he is also not available right away for their series against the Yankees.  He will now not be able to pitch until the third game of the series. 

So, yes, the Yankees have had way too much rest this week and, yes, the Astros will have a collectively potential homefield advantage; but I believe those conditions are not as disadvantageous as the Astros’ misaligned opposing starting pitching.  It was only 2 years ago when the Astros defeated the Yankees in the playoffs (4 games to 3).  I am hoping that the Yankees can win this time – which may again take 7 games because of the tight matchup.