Good morning everyone. We now know that the opponents are the 108-54 Boston Red Sox. Hinch vs. Cora. Evan Drellich's former team vs. Evan Drellich's current team. Two places where both Josh Reddick and J.D. Martinez have both called home (actually during the 2011 season, Reddick was with Boston and J.D. was with Houston). Game 1 is Saturday NIGHT! Clear your calendar. Tell grandma that we're celebrating her birthday Friday or we aren't celebrating at all because there's baseball to play.
First, let's knock out some numbers.
-FiveThirtyEight gives the Astros a 52% chance to win the ALCS and a 33% to win the World Series.
-FanGraphs gives the Astros even better chances: a 53.3% to take the ALCS with a 35% chance to win the World Series.
-The Astros are 4-3 against the Red Sox this season. They have a +3 run differential (34-31).
-Boston leads the league in offense, averaging 5.44 runs per game, which inflates to an even higher 5.72 at home. The Astros average 4.96 runs per game and sit at 5.30 on the road.
-However, Houston leads the league in pitching, averaging 3.27 runs per game in comparison to the Red Sox's 3.98. The Astros pitching staff is even better on the road as they give up 3.04 runs per game while Boston is almost a full point higher at home averaging exactly 4 runs per game.
-In the last 10 games dating back to the 2017 ALDS, the Astros have averaged 5 runs, 10 hits, and nearly 4 walks (3.7 to be exact) per game against Boston.
If would like a profession preview of the ALCS that isn't bad, ESPN already wrote about this back in September ($).
Ryan Pressly defended teammate Roberto Osuna who was being heckled by Cleveland fans for his recent domestic violence case.
So, uh, people are selling ALCS tickets on Groupon?
AT&T SportsNet Southwest will not renew longtime sports reporter and anchor Bart Enis' contract.
The Houston Astros: Red hot at the right time.
Now that I think about it, you can celebrate grandma's birthday on Saturday. You love your grandma, just make sure to have a TV or streamable device handy. Or just push the party up to the afternoon.
The two 2018 ALCS teams have a combined 211 regular season wins, second most only to the 2001 ALCS (Mariners-Yankees).
Even though Chris Sale came out of the bullpen last night, it is still expected to be a Sale-Verlander Game 1 matchup.
Brian McTaggart talks about the five things he learned from the ALDS series against Cleveland.
Richard Justice did a segment about Marwin on MLB Network and he says he is "part of the core" that and he is "pretty sure he will be back with the Astros" 😍
On This Day in Baseball History
In 1920, Bill Wambsganss turned the only unassisted triple play in postseason history.
In 1970, the first World Series game on artificial turf was played as the Orioles beat the Reds 4-3.
In 1999, the Red Sox scored more than 19 NFL teams to play on that Sunday as they defeated the Indians 23-7.
In 2011, Nelson Cruz hit the first walk-off grand slam in postseason history.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
