Keuchel now has 22 innings of scoreless pitching against the Yankees over three starts this season and he helped the Astros move into the next round of the playoffs. That’s about as far as these two teams compare.
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The Kansas City Royals are seen in this file photo. They aren’t alone in that confidence, either – the Royals were given 5-to-1 odds to win the World Series, third-best behind the Blue Jays and Dodgers. That led a few to wonder whether manager A.J. Hinch would be confident enough in Kazmir to send him to the mound for Game 2. But it’s harder to hit home runs here. Solo homers in the second from Colby Rasmus and fourth from Carlos Gomez got them tarted early. Incredible things happen when you have a plan and work the plan. This year they all together had 109 stolen bases. As a team, the Royals are hitting. Ditto for this year’s Astros squad, with one major difference: power.
Kansas City has a formidable offense of its own, with Ben Zobrist, Eric Hosmer, Kendrys Morales, Mike Moustakas, Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain leading a balanced attack.
Even without knowing the Cardinals’ opponent in the NLDS, the Astros and Royals are trending towards having the least expensive divisional round prices.
Collin McHugh will get the start for Houston, bolstered by a 19-7 regular season record with 171 strikeouts and 3.89 ERA.
That’s what the Houston Astros are trying to do in their ALDS against the Kansas City Royals. Houston was one of only two teams that handed the Royals a series sweep this season, and overall took four out of six games from KC over their June and July contests. Since August 1st, Ventura has proved to be the ace of the rotation going 8-1 in the last two months. “I barked beer out at the stadium and I’m a big Royals fan, always have been”.
Much like the Royals, the Astros are built with a strong young core of talent with pitching that can compete with anyone in the league.
The bullpen locked down the Astros. In fact, had the Astros won on Sunday when the Yankees were beaten by the Orioles, the wild card game would have been at Minute Maid Park.
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Incidentally, the Twins went on to beat the St. Louis Cardinals to win the World Series in seven games, though Minnesota lost three all three on the road. It was a turn-around performance for Ventura, who had given up six runs in four innings in his last start and was recently shipped – briefly – to the minor leagues. As we saw in the AL Wild Card Game, this team relies a lot on the long ball, so it will be important for them to continue hitting home runs throughout their postseason run. Keuchel is one of the best pitchers in the game right now-he started the All-Star game and is firmly entrenched in the Cy Young conversation. This is a very close matchup, but in the end, a powerful and balanced lineup gives Houston the edge in the series.
