The New York Yankees (87-75) will host the Houston Astros (86-76) in the American League Wild Card Game. The Yankees are sending Masahiro Tanaka, who was 12-7 with a 3.51 ERA this season, to the bump. The Astros will send All-Star starter Dallas Keuchel to the mound, who went 20-8 with a 2.48 ERA. The Yankees earned home field advantage in this game when the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Astros on Sunday.
Houston will not be fazed facing the Yankees as they've had regular season success, winning the season series 4-3. Dallas Keuchel last pitched against the Yankees on August 25th when he opposed Ivan Nova, leading to an Astros 15-1 victory. The last time Masahiro Tanaka faced the Astros he pitched five innings, giving up six earned runs on seven hits, three of which were home runs.
Dallas Keuchel has been two different pitchers when pitching at home as opposed to the road. In 18 starts at home, Keuchel has gone 15-0 with a 1.46 ERA, and in 15 starts away from Minute Maid Park the left-hander has pitched to a 5-8 record and 3.77 ERA.
Masahiro Tanaka has been nearly the same pitcher home or away. In 14 home starts, Tanaka has gone 7-4 with a 3.71 ERA this season.
The Yankees played really well in the first few months of the summer, especially June and July, but fell apart and started to be plagued with injuries that affected their play on the field. In July they went through a stretch where they scored 90 runs in a 10 game stretch, but the Yankees collapse would tragically coincide with the Toronto Blue Jays' acquisitions of David Price and Troy Tulowitzki.
On August 2nd, the Yankees held a six-game lead over the Blue Jays in the AL East, but the Jays would run off 11-straight wins while the Yankees would go 5-6 including a three-game sweep by Toronto. In August Mark Teixeira fouled a ball of his shin and has been out since mid August because of it, putting a strain on an offense that relied on the All-Star first baseman's power.
The Astros were ahead of schedule in the rebuilding process as they lost well over 100 games from 2011-to-2013, and 92 ballgames in 2014. Despite the low expectations, Houston received impact performances from their young core that includes Jose Altuve, George Springer and rookie shortstop Carlos Correa.
This is the Yankees' first trip to the playoffs since 2012 when they were swept by the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS. New York has been the shining example of success over the franchise's illustrious existence, and over the last 21 years the Yankees have punched their ticket to postseason play 18 times.
This is the Astros' first trip to the postseason since they had a great team that consisted of Andy Petitte, Lance Berkman, Roger Clemens, and Craig Biggio in 2005. That year they were swept by the Chicago White Sox in the World Series.
Today, Yankees veteran starter C.C. Sabathia announced he would enter a alcohol rehabilitation center and miss the entire postseason. He would not have pitched in this game but would’ve been in the playoff rotation should the Yankees get past the ‘Stros in this Wild Card game.
Alex Rodriguez has put together an amazing and unlikely season after missing an entire year because of a drug suspension. The most amazing part is the Yankees wouldn't be in the position they are in if he didn't bat .250 with 33 homers and 86 RBI. A-Rod and the baggage he brought to Spring Training looked to be more of distraction that could keep the Yankees from a winning season, instead he has been the solution as he leads the team in home runs and is second in RBI.
Last year's American League Wild Card Game was one of a kind between the Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals. The eventual American League Champion Royals were down 7-3 in the eighth inning, but mounted a thrilling comeback as they would defeat the A's 9-8 in the 12th inning.
Kansas City would face the National League Wild Card representative, the San Francisco Giants, and lose in the World Series in seven games.
The recent memory of last postseason gives both of these teams hope they can not only win the one-game playoff, but take that momentum into an incredible run to the Series.