Astros vs. Yankees Pick
Are the Houston Astros or the New York Yankees going to win the pivotal Game 5 of the ALCS? First pitch is at 5:08PM EST.
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, the Astros are listed as a 119 favorite to win on the moneyline. The Yankees are a -101 underdog and the over-under is set at 8.
New York rallied from a four-run deficit Tuesday to win 6-4 and even the series at 2-2. Houston is now 106-64 on the season including the postseason and 54-31 on the road, while New York is 97-75 and 56-30 at home. The Astros have won six of the last 10 meetings this season and the total has gone over seven times.
Pitching for Houston will be Dallas Keuchel (14-5, 2.90 ERA), while New York counters with Masahiro Tanaka (13-12, 4.74). Keuchel had a 1.12 WHIP with 125 strikeouts over 145 2/3 innings during the regular season. He threw seven shutout innings in Game 1 of the series, allowing four hits with 10 strikeouts and one walk in a 2-1 home victory. Keuchel has now given up only one earned run on 12 2/3 innings during the playoffs. He has an 8-2 record with a 3.53 ERA in 74 road innings. Tanaka carried a 1.24 WHIP with 194 strikeouts in 178 1/3 innings during the regular season. He surrendered two earned runs on four hits with three strikeouts and one walk over six innings in the Game 1 loss at Houston. Tanaka has a 9-5 record with a 3.22 ERA in 95 home innings this year.
In Tuesday’s game, the Yankees scored twice in the seventh and four in the eighth to overtake the Astros. Aaron Judge went 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk, two runs and two RBIs. Didi Gregorius finished 2-for-4 with a triple and two runs. Gary Sanchez was 1-for-3 with a double and three RBIs. Todd Frazier was 2-for-4 with a run. Chad Green picked up the win in relief. Yuli Gurriel was 1-for-3 with a double and three RBIs for the Astros. Ken Giles suffered the loss in relief.
Houston is 20-7 in their last 27 games overall, while New York is 21-7 in their last 28 home games.
Keuchel seems to always have the Yankees’ number, which speaks to him being one of the better pitchers in baseball and still probably a bit underappreciated despite winning the 2015 AL Cy Young Award. Look for Keuchel to once again flummox New York and pitch deep into this game, allowing for the Astros bullpen to not play such a crucial role one day after being very shaky. Tanaka has been much better at home this season, but the Astros have a fantastic lineup one through nine and if they can score four runs like they did Tuesday it will almost certainly lead to a victory this time.
MLB DAILY PREDICTION: HOUSTON ASTROS -119