The Houston Astros are headed to their second World Series after claiming the American League pennant for the first time, downing the Yankees in the ALCS’s deciding seventh game 4-0 thanks to five shutdown innings from starter Charlie Morton, some well-timed defense, and Lance McCullers Jr. shredding any hopes for a…
The Yankees are just one game from the World Series after tonight’s 5-0 win over the Astros—thanks to another strong starting pitching performance, sure, but also to Houston’s sudden and near-total impotence at the plate.
Aaron Judge, the Yankees’ young superstar slugger and potential MVP, had been having a pretty worthless postseason at the plate. Despite his team’s success, Judge only notched one hit in the entire ALDS, and he’s been mostly anonymous against Houston, only coming out of his shell for a home run in Game 3 when his team…
Large Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge made quite the catch in the top of the fourth inning tonight, crashing into the right field wall to snare a deep fly ball before tumbling over backwards:
Carlos Correa accounted for both of Houston’s runs, hitting a fourth-inning solo homer and the walkoff double that drove in José Altuve as the Astros took a 2-0 series lead on the Yankees in a game that saw Justin Verlander pitch a complete game with 13 strikeouts.
Reasonable people may disagree about whether spectators should be bringing baseball gloves to professional baseball games. Is it lame? Probably not, so long as you are a child. But even if you are a child, there is one thing you for sure should not be doing at a professional baseball game: you should not be reaching…
Corey Kluber was great against eight out of nine Yankees last night. To those eight hitters, over 3.2 innings, Kluber gave up one hit, and he struck out six. In the biggest game of the year, he was almost fine. The problem was, one guy was a big problem for Kluber: A 27-year-old shortstop from Amsterdam, one who spent…
The Yankees managed to erase a 2-0 series deficit and advance to the ALCS, which is great news for Yankees fans and even better news for Aaron Judge, who has a lot less attention on him today than he would if the Yankees had fallen last night.
Corey Kluber’s shortest start of the season came in Game 2 of the ALDS. His third-shortest start game in last night’s Game 5. In between, his second-shortest start of the season, was a May 2 outing in which he was pulled after three innings with a lower back strain, with which he was placed on the DL and missed a…
For the length of 26 batters, from the moment the Indians chased CC Sabathia from the game in the fifth and got the Cleveland crowd back into things, until the moment Brett Gardner worked—and there is no better word than worked—an epic at-bat in the ninth, Game 5 of the ALDS was about as tense as games get: A…
The Indians’ catalogue of postseason failure is fairly lengthy, but it is not especially varied. There are, after all, a lot of different ways to lose—blowouts and gentle fades and attempted comebacks that can’t come back enough. But Cleveland’s recent history of loss here is almost exclusively defined by singular…
Aaron Judge won the world’s adoration earlier tonight for denying manchild ballhawk Zack Hample a baseball. (It also kept the game scoreless, but who cares about those details?) Here are some more wire photos of the catch for your enjoyment:
Aaron Judge snagged a Francisco Lindor fly ball just above Yankee Stadium’s short right field fence, but that feat pales in comparison to the act of humanitarianism that was denying ballhawk Zack Hample yet another baseball he doesn’t need.
That last night’s Yankees-Indians game continued for more than six innings after Lonnie Chisenhall’s phantom hit-by-pitch should not distract you from the fact that this was the moment of the game. It was. Right there, with two strikes and two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Yankees were on the cusp of…
Cleveland’s decision to start Trevor Bauer in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Yankees tonight and hold ace Corey Kluber for Game 2 was slightly unorthodox, but the logic behind it was sound: They knew that their opponent would have just used up their best starting pitcher in the wild card game, meaning that they…
Joba Chamberlain, after parts of 10 big-league seasons with four clubs, hasn’t pitched since July of 2016, and now says he’s done.
Did you stay awake for the entirety of last night’s Twins-Yankees game? Are you still feeling the pain this morning? Last night’s game was good, and featured great plays, great action, and a stunning performance by the Yankees bullpen. It was also way too fucking long, and was a good reminder that October baseball is…
No team plans on their starter getting knocked out after just one out in a deciding playoff game, but no team is as prepared for the possibility as the Yankees, who showed off their considerable strengths in a wild, interminable 8-4 win over the Twins to advance to the ALDS.
In the top of the sixth inning tonight, Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez was struck in the junk by a foul tip. Here is pitcher David Robertson’s reaction, as captured by Elsa of Getty Images:
Luis Severino has been the best part of the Yankees’ rotation this year, leading the team’s starters in ERA (2.98) and FIP (3.07) and strikeout rate (10.71 per nine innings). He’s forced more ground balls than almost anyone else (more than half of his contact) and allowed fewer home runs (fewer than one per nine…
