2022 ALCS Preview: Yankees vs Astros Round 3
It’s the matchup we’ve been waiting
for, the matchup we’ve been anticipating all year long. The 3rd entry into a so far closely contested but one-sided playoff rivalry. Its
Yankees – Astros Part 3 in the 2022 ALCS. The Astros posted the best record in
the AL this season and swept through their ALDS series against the Seattle
Mariners. The Yankees struggled through much of the second half of their
season, squandering their chance at home field advantage in the process, and
were pushed to the brink in their ALDS series against the Cleveland Guardians.
In spite of the trials they’ve endured so far, the Yankees have made it to
where they wanted to be, with a chance to avenge their previous losses and get
over the mountain they have not yet been able to scale. The Yankees take the field
tonight in game 1, with a chance to beat the Houston Astros and advance to their
first World Series since 2009. The Astros will likely be regarded as a
comfortable favorite heading into the series, let’s look at how they stack up.
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| Credit: MLB.com |
Roster Talk
While the Astros head into this
series with few roster questions and little prospect of serious change from
their ALDS roster, the Yankees have more questions to answer. The Astros earned
a sweep and as such, have their pitching rested and lined up as they would like
it, we will likely see few changes to their roster. The Yankees on the other
hand, are not so lucky. While fans screamed all year about the problem of Isiah
Kiner-Falefa’s defense, the Yankees did not address it until the most important
games of the year, inserting Oswaldo Cabrera at shortstop after electing to
keep promising young shortstop Oswald Peraza off their ALDS roster in favor of
Aaron Hicks. Hicks is now lost for the year with a knee injury and Peraza has
been added for this round as the Yankees have now announced their ALCS roster. There
are a few factors in play here, most importantly who the Yankees feel comfortable
with playing the outfield. Tim Locastro is a speed and defense guy off the bench
and is a solid keep on the roster in a bench role with Hicks now lost. Andrew
Benintendi will also not be available, as his wrist has not progressed as
quickly as the team would have hoped. DJ LeMahieu took batting practice before
game 5 and hoped to be activated for this series but the team decided not to go
in that direction.
Our roster is set for the ALCS 🔒#RepBX pic.twitter.com/HDNb1nuLtK
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) October 19, 2022
The key players in this discussion are, Giancarlo Stanton, Matt Carpenter and Cabrera. Cabrera has been the primary left fielder for a few weeks now but was pressed into duty at shortstop when the Yankees benched IKF due to his struggles on defense. If Carpenter and Stanton are able to play the outfield, then the Yankees would be able to play Cabrera at shortstop and have cover incase they do not want to go back to IKF. If they do not feel comfortable playing Stanton and Carpenter, they would likely need Cabrera for LF. Yankee fans will be thrilled with the inclusion of the exciting young Peraza, he presents a likely upgrade on defense from IKF, has much more upside and power with the bat and is a more natural shortstop than Cabrera, but would the stage be too big for a rookie with just a handful of major league games under his belt? Defense will be at a premium this series and the Yankees cannot afford to give away outs and runs like they did against Cleveland. While the Yankees are overall a very much improved and defensively sound team, they must find the right combination here to shore up the shortstop and left field weak spots that caused them problems last series.
Pitching Staff
Due to not one, but two rainouts in
during the ALDS, the Yankees will begin this ALCS series without an off day,
and with their pitching staff not lined up as they would prefer it. As it
stands, the Yankees will have Jameson Taillon starting Game 1, perhaps piggy
backing with Domingo German, then Luis Severino in Game 2. Because of the long
series, the Yankees are staring at the possibility of not having Gerrit Cole
and Nestor Cortes available until games 3 and 4. It is possible, perhaps even
likely, that the Yankees move up Gerrit Cole to start game 2 on short rest. If
they did move up Cole to game 2, the Yankees would have Sevy for game 3 and
Nestor for game 4, with the possibility of Nestor being available for a relief
appearance earlier in the series. This scenario would also allow the Yankees to
bring back Cole for a game 7 on regular rest. In this type of series, you must
have your best players available as often as possible and that is especially
true for the Yankees with Cole and Nestor here. Severino has been very good
since his return from the IL late in the season, but I’m very skeptical that
the Yankees would consider pitching him on short rest to get him another start,
given his injury history. The Yankees lead dogs need to pitch well whenever they’re
given the ball, but to beat the Astros, the Yankees will need Taillon and their
supporting cast of pitchers to do their part as well.
Moving to the bullpen, the Yankees
again face interesting questions. The Astros are again set up as they would prefer.
Their rotation is headed by old foe Justin Verlander and followed up by the
exceptional Framber Valdez as well as Lance McCullers Jr. After that they boast
a deep cast of hard throwers, including Ryne Stanek, Ryan Pressly, Cristian
Javier and Luis Garcia. The Yankees bullpen meanwhile has been far less settled
than in years past and at worst has been an injury riddled revolving door
throughout the season. Clay Holmes did not resemble his first half, all-star
self for much of the second half. While he and Wandy Peralta suffered injuries
late in the season, both delivered good performances in the ALDS. They were
joined by the versatile Jonathan Loaisiga, who had an up and down season but appeared
in 4 ALDS games and did not allow an earned run.
These 3 could give the Yankees the
back end of the bullpen they need to stay in a tough series. Interestingly
enough, while Holmes pitched well, Boone actually closed multiple ALDS games with
Peralta and we were told that if the Cleveland lineup turned over in the 9th
inning of game 5, that Gerrit Cole would have come into the game. All of that
to say that Boone is going to have to do this by committee and they will have
to be open to using their best arms as often as they can, even though the
schedule will be brutal this series. The Yankees will have to piece together some
games if their starters cannot provide depth. Lou Trivino had a 1.66 regular
season ERA after joining the Yankees and a returning Frankie Montas may also be
relied upon, with Montas joining the bullpen in his return from a late season
injury. While they had questions coming down the stretch of the season, the
Yankees bullpen performed well overall in the ALDS, with the majority of the
questions coming from how Aaron Boone deployed his arms rather than the
performance of the players themselves. The Yankees may not have as much firepower
in their pen as they have in years past, but they have enough to keep them in
this series. If you keep the games close in the playoffs, anything can happen.
It will be up to Aaron Boone to make sure it happens.
Final Thoughts
We’ve heard all the thoughts,
opinions, comparisons etc between these two teams all year long. Much like the
Los Angeles Angels in the early to mid-2000s, this Astros team represents a
hurdle the Yankees have not yet been able to get over. On paper, it is more than
fair to say that the Astros are a better overall team and that the Yankees have
questions that need to be answered. But sometimes those questions can go out
the window in the playoffs. These are the two best teams in the American League
and have been all year long. The Astros pitching is superb from front to back, both
teams boast an overall stellar defense and like the Yankees, a slightly top
heavy but very productive lineup that can hit home runs and put up runs in
bunches.
The Astros lineup is powered by a
core of Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker and of course, Jose Altuve.
For the Yankees to have a chance, they must not allow Alvarez and co. to beat
them. Altuve went 0-for-16 in the ALDS and did get much of anything to hit. It is
important that the Yankees learn from what the Mariners did well, as well as
what they didn’t do well (notably pitching to Yordan Alvarez in game changing
situations). If they can keep this core in check, they have a chance. Easier
said than done? Sure it is, but here we are. The Yankees will counter with
their own core of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo. In the ALDS
they were aided by surprisingly effective performances from Harrison Bader and Gleyber
Torres. In the ALDS, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton combined for just 6 hits,
but 4 of them were home runs. While the Yankees may need to manufacture runs to
win this series, what they do better than anyone is hit home runs and they will
need their sluggers to him them to win this series.
As mentioned above, Aaron Boone did
not do himself any favors at times during the ALDS. His bullpen usage in game 3
cost them that game and perhaps some valuable days off. Boone cannot continue
to make these mistakes. While Boone’s concern for the health of his players is
important, the rules are different in the playoffs. In order to make a deep
run, you need to use your best players as often as possible. Boone cannot treat
his best pitchers with kid gloves if they hope to win this series. The same could
be said with their shortstop and left field situations. Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s defense
has cost the Yankees all year long, it is almost impossible to envision a
scenario where it would make sense to return to him as the starting shortstop. If
the Yankees give away runs and outs against this Astros team, they very flatly
will have no hope of winning this series. Aaron Boone cannot outsmart himself,
play your best lineup, use your best pitchers and take it one inning and one
game at a time. We’ve been waiting for this series all year long and really
since the bitterly disappointing losses of 2017 and 2019, the Yankees have now earned
the opportunity to avenge those losses, only thing that’s left to do is see how
it plays out.
Article by Matt Graziano
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