AL Wild Card Preview: Who will emerge between Yankees and Astros?

The New York Yankees and Houston Astros will kick-off the 2015 MLB Postseason on Tuesday evening. How do the two teams match-up against one another?

The Houston Astros and the New York Yankees both took very different paths into the 2015 Major League Baseball postseason. The Astros survived a late run by the Los Angeles Angels to secure the fifth and final playoff spot, earning a match-up with a Yankees team that fell backwards into the playoffs, dropping seven of their final ten games.

Regardless of how they got to the AL Wild Card game, both have the same objective; to survive the win or go home match-up with the other and somehow remain strong enough to compete with the mighty Kansas City Royals in the ALDS. For now however, the two are solely focused on being the king of the hill during the 2015 American League Wild Card.

Of course, these two teams have a bit of history in 2015, having met each other seven times, with the Astros having won four of the seven contests and three of the final four. Delving a bit deeper, the Astros have dominated the offensive and pitching side of the game, with Houston outscoring the Yankees 36-17 on the season. That said, that includes a 15-1 romp on August 25th, which obviously has a big say in the run differential side of things.

Overall, these two teams represent an interesting match-up for one another, and we can’t downplay the location of the game being in Yankee Stadium either. So who gets the ball for the Astros or Yankees, and how do the line-ups match-up with one another?

Next: Pitching Match-ups