The New York Yankees have the best record in the American League this year. Yet despite their regular season success, some MLB insiders still believe the Houston Astros, not the Yankees, are the team to beat in the AL playoffs. While Yankees fans no doubt bristle at the notion of Houston having the postseason advantage, the Astros did New York a serious solid on Saturday.
Houston beat the Cleveland Guardians 4-3. The win clinched home field advantage for the Yankees throughout the American League playoffs, according to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch.
New York holds a one-game lead over the Guardians for the AL’s best record. But the Yankees took the season series against Cleveland this year. So even if New York loses and the Guardians tie things up with a win in the final game of the regular season, the Yankees have home field locked up for as long as they stay alive in the playoffs.
The Yankees won a near season-long battle for the AL East when they beat the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday, capturing the division crown. Despite having the third-best record in the American League, the Orioles will end up with the four seed as the Astros won the AL West.
The Yankees clinched the top seed in the American League
New York has benefited from elite pitching by ace Gerrit Cole over the second half of the season. Still, there is cause for some concern for Yankees fans as the team’s potential playoff opponents have the advantage when it comes to pitching.
Nonetheless, Giancarlo Stanton believes New York is the team to beat in the postseason. And it’s easy to see why as Yankees’ slugger and presumptive AL MVP Aaron Judge took a five-game home run streak into Saturday. In fact, Judge is the first player since Babe Ruth in 1921 with a five+ game homer streak and a 10+ game walk streak at the same time.
Judge was unable to extend the streak against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday as he went 0-5 and the Yankees lost 9-4 at home. But with the Astros win over the Guardians behind a quality start from veteran Justin Verlander, New York wrapped up the top seed in the AL. Verlander went six innings and allowed three runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and zero walks.
The Astros will make the playoffs for the eighth straight season this year. The team has won two World Series titles in the last seven years and made four appearances in the Fall Classic during that span. Houston has beaten the Yankees in the ALCS three times in their dominant seven-year run. New York hopes that home field advantage and the additions of Juan Soto and Jazz Chisholm Jr. change the outcome this season. The Yankees last won the World Series in 2009.
