Well-rested Bronx Bombers set to bring elite club to town
The New York Yankees, after making quick work of the Minnesota Twins, are rested and ready for the American League Championship Series.
That’s the bad news for the Astros. The good news? The Yankees must now hop on a plane and head toward Houston, while the Astros use Friday to catch up on a little rest of their own.
The Astros finished off the Tampa Bay Rays 6-1 in a deciding fifth game Thursday night at Minute Maid Park in the AL Division Series. Meantime, the Yankees swept the Twins in their best-of-five series by a total of 16 runs, and none of the three games were closer than four runs.
“I like the fact that the series is opening up here,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said late Thursday. “One, because we want a partial day off (Friday). I’m exhausted after this series against Tampa.”
The Yankees put the last swing on the Twins hammering on Monday, meaning they’ll have four days of rest between games. The Yankees and Astros crank up the ALCS on Saturday night at Minute Maid.
Despite their struggles in the ALDS against the wildcard Rays, the Astros earned home-field advantage throughout the playoffs thanks to their 107-55 finish in the regular season.
The Astros are off-kilter relative to the Yankees regarding their pitching rotation — but they’ll take it considering the go-home alternative on Thursday.
“The Yankees have been watching this series for the last couple of games,” Hinch said. “They’ll come well prepared. They’re healthy, and it’s a quick turnaround (for us). But sometimes I think there’s too much gap in these games … when there’s any dead time during the playoffs, you get a little anxious.
“I’ll play ’em (Friday) if they want to play.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the four-day layoff won’t impact his team’s sharpness for the ALCS.
“It’s something I totally embrace, and I think it benefits us,” he said. “I know our guys will be ready. I know they prepare really hard behind the scenes to allow themselves to stay sharp. This time of year, any time we get a couple of extra days (rest), it’s pretty much entirely a positive.”
The Astros and Yankees haven’t played since June 23, a 9-4 Astros victory that snapped a season-high seven-game losing streak. The Astros edged the Yankees in the season series 4-3, thanks mainly to winning all three games at Minute Maid Park on April 8-10.
In doing so, the Astros swept the Yankees for the first time in club history. The Yankees responded by winning three of four at Yankee Stadium in June.
“A lot of people would look at them going into the postseason as the odds-on favorite,” Boone said of the Astros. “They’re really kind of a complete team with elite starting pitching and a good bullpen and star players. We know we’ll have our work cut out for us.”
Hinch likely will turn to Zack Greinke in Game 1 of the ALCS, considering he used co-aces Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole in the fourth and fifth games of the ALDS. Boone’s entire staff has had plenty of rest following the four-day respite from games.
“They’re both really good,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said of the Astros and Yankees. “It will be a really good series. Elite bullpens, elite starters, great offenses.”
The Yankees were 103-59 in the regular season, a win total third only to the Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers of the National League. The Dodgers already are out of the playoffs following a Game 5 home loss to the Washington Nationals in 10 innings in the NLDS.
The mighty Yankees, historically speaking, anyway, own a baseball-best 27 World Series titles. The Astros own one, won two years ago. In the 2017 ALCS, the Astros defeated the Yankees 4-3, with the home team winning each game.
The Astros won the first two games in Minute Maid Park by a score of 2-1, before the Yankees responded with three consecutive victories in Yankee Stadium. The Astros finished off the Yankees with 7-1 and 4-0 victories in Minute Maid for the right to advance to their second World Series.
“They’ve got a really good team,” Astros third baseman Alex Bregman said of the Yankees. “So do we.”