The Houston Astros and NY Yankees are playing the American League wild card playoff game on Tuesday night and the matchup is on TV and live streaming online from ESPN. The game starts at 8 pm ET from Yankee Stadium and has Masahiro Tanaka taking on Dallas Keuchel for the one-game playoff to see who advances to play the Royals in the ALDS.
The Yankees come into the game after backing into home field, but they will take it and now they have to find a way to win one game to advance. The team lost the season series to the Astros by one game, winning three of the seven matchups, but that likely will not have much of a bearing on this game. The Yankees actually did themselves a favor by winning home field, as the Astros are a completely different team when they are playing on the road.
The Astros won 53 games at home this season, but just 33 on the road and Keuchel followed that pattern, going 15-0 at home and 5-8 on the road. While that may not end up playing into what happens on Tuesday night, those numbers at least do fall in the favor of the Yankees. The Yanks have decided to tinker with their lineup a bit, as Joe Girardi has opted to not start Jacoby Ellsbury and will put in Brett Gardner, Chris Young and Carlos Beltran in the outfield. The lineup has A-Rod at DH, while Rob Refsnyder will be at second base next to Did Gregorius at short.
The team also will start Brian McCann after some suggested that John Ryan Murphy could get the start and Greg Bird will be in at first base for the Yankees. Both pitchers have pitched well this season and Keuchel is one of the favorites for the Cy Young after winning 20 games and putting up 216 strikeouts this season. Tanaka had some injuries and he ended up with a 12-7 record and he comes in looking to get his first playoff victory for the Yankees in his first postseason appearance.
The Yankee bullpen has a clear advantage over the Astros with the makeup of their pitchers and the team will be hoping that they can get a lead to Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances. The Yankees have not been in the postseason for a couple years and now they are in, while the Astros ended a drought that lasted a decade and they are back in. Miller has blown only two saves this season and the Astros are coming in after previously winning two of three games in NY, including a game when they put up 15 runs.
Check here for the Astros and Yankees live coverage from ESPN.
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