After finally dispatching a pesky Cleveland Guardians team in five games, the New York Yankees will move on to battle the Houston Astros for the right to go to the World Series. New York clawed their way to victory yesterday afternoon and will not have any downtime as they meet up in Houston tonight. The Astros have had plenty of rest after sweeping the Mariners in their ALDS matchup in three-straight games. The pitching matchup in game one will feature righty Jameson Taillon (14-5, 3.91) of the Yankees taking on AL Cy Young favorite Justin Verlander (18-4, 1.75) of the Astros. First pitch is scheduled for 7:37pm EST.
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The Yankees had a modest celebration after beating the Guardians in the fifth and deciding game on Monday afternoon. They were soon on a flight to Houston to prepare to take on the Astros in the ALCS best of seven series. First things first, however, was the performance of the Yankees pitching on Monday afternoon. Starter Nestor Cortes, pitching on three days of rest, gave the Yankees five innings and allowed just three hits and one run in a huge performance. The Yankees bullpen was outstanding as Jonathan Loaisiga, Clay Holmes and Wandy Peralta combined to go four innings and allowed five hits and struck out seven without allowing a run. The big bats showed up as well with Giancarlo Stanton belting a 3-run homer in the first and Aaron Judge adding a solo shot in the 2nd inning.
A Stantonian Blast ?? #RepBX pic.twitter.com/NGJnpm1fJW
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) October 19, 2022
The ALCS may very well be decided by players that didn't play in the ALDS. The Yankees are still holding out hope that DJ LeMahieu, Matt Carpenter and even perhaps Andrew Benintendi might find their way onto the field in the ALCS. If not, the Yankees will once again be relying on young players like Oswaldo Cabrera and veterans like Marwin Gonzalez to give them important at bats or time in the field. The Yankees will turn to Jameson Taillon in game one after he was pushed back from starting game five due to the rainout. Taillon has faced Houston just one time and was hit hard, allowing 10 hits in 5.2 innings and giving up two home runs. He will be tasked to give the Yankees some quality innings in the opener after the excessive usage of the Yankees' pen in the last few games.