The Houston Astros and the Baltimore Orioles continue their four-game weekend series in Baltimore on Friday night. The Astros have already clinched the AL West Division and a first round bye in the playoffs and are on the verge of the #1 seed in the American League. The Oriole fairy tale season has cooled off a bit recently but they still hope to finish with a winning record, which would be their first since 2016. On the mound on Friday night will be Astros' lefty Framber Valdez (16-5, 2.57) taking on O's righty Dean Kremer (7-5, 3.33). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm EST.
The Houston Astros continue their dominance of the American League on the way to what they hope will be a return to the World Series on 2022. While the baseball world has focused at different times this season on the Dodgers' dominance, the Mets and Braves battles and Aaron Judge's march towards history, the Astros just keep winning games and flying under the radar. Heading into Thursday night's game with the Orioles, the Astros had already clinched the AL West, a first round bye and were on the verge of 100 wins for the fourth time in the last six seasons. On Thursday, the Astros lost out on their first chance at 100 victories after being shutout 2-0 by the Orioles. Houston was held to just two hits and struck out 11 times in the loss.
Best in the West. pic.twitter.com/a2aHO2NzOg
— Houston Astros (@astros) September 20, 2022
The Astros will spend the rest of their season lining up their rotation for the postseason and resting some veteran players as they get set for the second round of the playoffs after awaiting the results of the first round. The Astros will inevitably earn the #1 seed in the American League playoffs thanks to a rather large cushion over the Yankees, meaning they will have home field advantage throughout the playoff. On the mound on Friday night is one of two Cy Young candidate on the Astros, lefty Framber Valdez. Valdez leads the league in innings pitched and quality starts this season. Valdez is 4-1 in his last five starts with a 1.96 ERA.