We’ve got a ALCS dogfight on our hands. The Houston Astros are in prime position to take a stranglehold of their ALCS and reach a third straight World Series after their dominating, hard-fought 8-5 victory over interstate rivals Texas Rangers.
At long last the Astros have woken up.
Despite being in a 0-2 hole and being on the receiving end of two heartbreaking, soul-crushing losses, the Houston Astros have finally shown the fight of a defending World Series champion (and two-time defending AL pennant) as they beat the Texas Rangers 8-5 at Globe Life Field to set up a crucial Game 4 showdown. And, even though the Rangers have the series lead, home ballpark advantage, and have been the better team over the three games, I think the Astros are now a woken giant coming for their heads.
I know the Phillies have been the talk of the baseball world throughout the entire postseason given how dominate and destructive they’ve been against their opponents, which has included the Marlins, the NL-best Atlanta Braves, and now the Diamondbacks, but the ALCS has been just as interesting (if not a little more) than the NLCS.
With both teams, the Rangers and Astros, based out in Texas, this has been a quasi “Battle of Texas” to determine who will win the AL Pennant and earn the right to face off against the Phillies…cough…winner of the NL in the World Series. And, as it was up until Game 3, the Battle of Texas looked to be as one-sided as the Battle of the Alamo as the Rangers held a 2-0 series lead over the World Series-defending Astros.
Now, yes, I know the Astros have been in every single game this series and only lost 2-0 in Game 1 and 5-4 in Game 2…but these games were at home and the Astros’ key to ending the ALCS early and prep for an extremely difficult outing against the NL winners. Apart from Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman, the top of the Astros batting order played really poorly against the Rangers in the first two games with Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker, and Jose Abreu combining for a measly 1 hit.
Yes, nearly half of the Astros top batting order had just one hit on a combined 23 at bats. It’s no wonder the Astros got shutout in Game 1 and lost by a single run in Game 2…at home.
Fortunately for the Astros, their star hitters FINALLY came to play in Game 3 as they not only had a series-high 12 hits (in fact, that’s more hits than they had in the previous two games combined) and 8 runs (again, that’s a little less than double than what they scored in Games 1 & 2), but Altuve, Alvarez, Abreu, and Kyle Tucker all scored at least one hit and one run.
Jose Altuve was most especially important yesterday as he led the way with 2 hits, 2 runs, 1 RBI, and 1 home run as his home run tied the great Manny Ramierz’s all-time ALCS record of 10 homes runs., though Alvarez and Mauricio Dubon were also extremely important with both players getting at least 1 RBIs, 2 hits, and a run of their own.
And, when you have Christian Javier pitching fantastically from the mound with him having an ERA of 1.67 and giving up just 2 runs in 5.2 innings, you get 8-5 shootout scores like we saw yesterday.
Personally, I think this series is now the Astros to lose as they not only have the momentum and experienced behind them, but they Rangers are also under extreme pressure to win at home and put the series into a clinching scenario.
Sure, the Rangers will probably have 10X better pitching tonight as Max Scherzer (11.25 ERA, 5 ER, 1 HR, 4 innings pitched) and his Astros-sleeper agent style of pitching won’t be on the mound again for Texas anytime soon (and hopefully never again if they want to win the ALCS and the World Series), but the Rangers have been DREADFUL away this year as they only went 40-41 in the regular season.
Yes, they played well one the road up to this point and have not had to rely on their home form (50-31) to carry them, but that’s bound to change with the pressure of closing out the Astros now handing over their heads. Will they be able to walk back into Houston and win two games again (or even one if they take Game 5)?
I don’t think so…and the Astros know that too. Tonight’s game is going to decide the series, and who represents the AL in the World Series.
