HOUSTON – The wait is finally over and October playoff baseball is back in Houston.
The Astros and Indians open things up Friday at 1:05 p.m. with game one in their best of five ALDS series.
The Astros are the reigning World Series champs and look to become the first back-to-back champs since the Yankees won three in a row from 1998 to 2000.
The Indians have been loaded and built to play for a title the past two years but have fallen short. Cleveland hasn’t won a World Series since 1948.
The story of this series will be the starting pitching staffs for both teams. The Astros are the best in baseball with a 3.16 ERA while the Indians are second overall with a 3.39 ERA.
In Game 1, it is Astros ace Justin Verlander, who is 16-9, taking on Indians right-hander Corey Kluber.
Kluber won 20 games this year, racked up innings and strikeouts just like Verlander, who finished with 290 strikeouts in the 2018 regular season.
The bullpen is what separates these two staffs. Houston’s pen has a 3.03 ERA while Cleveland’s group sported a dismal 4.60 ERA.
If Houston can get to the Indians big guns and knock them out by the sixth inning or so, the series bodes well for Houston.
Keys for Game 1
1. Verlander gets through six innings -- Stick with what got him here. He shines in the postseason.
2. Carlos Correa -- Back in the lineup, says he is feeling better but his back has been an issue. Correa hit a disappointing .239 this year with 15 Home runs. They need him in the postseason.
3. Altuve, Bregman and Springer -- What else can you say? When these three are going, the Astros are tough to beat. Springer is the reigning World Series MVP. Bregman will get MVP votes for the season he’s had. Altuve just can flat out play and is the MVP himself.
4. Bullpen -- Hopefully, Houston’s starters will go deep into games, then hand it off to the likes of Pressley and Osuna to close it out.
5. A.J. Hinch vs. Terry Francona -- These skippers battling will be fun to watch. Both are World Series winners and now put their skill sets to the test under intense pressure.
In the regular season, the Astros went 4-3 against Cleveland, all in the month of May. The season series included a couple of blowouts but the rest were tight. I expect this series to be close, low-scoring games based on the numbers the pitching staffs put together this season.