ALCS: 3 Reasons Yankees will beat Astros in Game 7
Game 7 of the 2017 ALCS is upon us, and after holding off the New York Yankees in an an elimination Game 6, the Houston Astros won’t be able to repeat the result.
There will be a lot of media takes on who will win the 2017 ALCS Game 7 and why. There will be stats, trends and all sorts of inane numbers from sabermetric lab coats. Everyone will have an opinion and will be able to make a case for either team.
In baseball, you go with the hot bat, the hot arm, and with the percentages. If you look at stats, history and talent from top to bottom of the lineup, everything points to the Astros coming away with an ALCS victory in Game 7.
That’s if you go by the percentages and where the statistics point.
It’s not going to happen, and here’s why.
ALCS to the Yankees: October is for the Obscure.
This is October baseball. This isn’t when stats and trends mean a lot with the game or the series on the line. October is when unlikely heroes step up and carry their team. October is for names like Mark Lemke, Marco Scutaro, Cody Ross and Ed Sprague.
Players who have spent much of the season – or even the postseason – in muted obscurity will suddenly burst on the scene and become household names for a few precious weeks.
That’s why the Yankees can pull this off. The Astros have been the better team all season, and after going up 2-0 on the Yankees, the end result seemed inevitable. Credit to the Yankees for not giving up and silencing the thunderous bats of the Astros for a few games.
Most think Game 6 was the best chance for the Yankees to close it out, with Luis Severino on the mound and the Astros bats ice cold, but that was until Houston catcher Brian McCann finally saw a pitch to hit and put the Astros on the board.
Game 7 will be the Yanks turn to have an unlikely hero step up. Perhaps Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez will snap out of his postseason doldrums, or maybe second baseman Starlin Castro. You never know who will suddenly become the unsung hero.
Just ask Jim Leyritz.