TORONTO – This is probably going to be an unpopular take, but all things considered, the Houston Astros have had a pretty good season.
Never mind that they finished 29-31 and made it to the post-season by default when everyone else in the American League West not named the Oakland Athletics was far too flawed to mount any sort of realistic challenge. And let’s pause for a second on the whole cheated the game thing, which they did and we’ll get to.
To have gone through all they’ve gone through – their manager and general manager fired after being disciplined for their role in the cheating scandal, surviving months of public flogging, losing ace Justin Verlander to Tommy John surgery, having Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Lance McCullers Jr., Roberto Osuna and Chris Devenski, among others, miss chunks of time on the injured list – and still advance to the American League Championship Series for a fourth straight year is pretty impressive.
Theoretically, the Astros did it without skirting the rules this time, too.
That doesn’t make them any less contemptible for the trash-can sign-stealing scheme, and by no means are they some sob-story underdog. Their 2017 title will be tainted forever. But credit where it’s due, they earned the trip here.
In the Tampa Bay Rays, 2-1 winners of Game 1 of the ALCS on Sunday night, the Astros may have finally met their match. The Minnesota Twins imploded on themselves in the wild-card round while the Oakland Athletics once again pulled an October fade.
The Rays will do no such thing, and while the Astros limited them to a solo shot by Randy Arozarena and a Mike Zunino RBI single, Blake Snell surrendered a solo blast to Altuve in the first and Houston managed only eight hits the rest of the way.
The Astros slugged their way to this point, but they can expect big blows to be tougher to come by from this point forward.
RED-HOT RANDY
Rays slugger Randy Arozarena continued to make the post-season his personal playground with his fourth homer, cranking an outer-edge cutter up in the zone at 92.7 m.p.h. and ripping it over the wall in centre to tie things up in the fourth.
While he drew notice for his celebratory dance battle against Brett Phillips after the Rays eliminated the New York Yankees, really, it’s his bat that’s earned the attention. His leadoff triple against Robbie Ray in Game 1 of the wild-card round sunk the Toronto Blue Jays’ rotation gambit, he had three more hits in the series clincher and went deep in each of the first three games of the five-gamer versus the Yankees.
Randy Arozarena posts the dance battle against Brett Phillips on his Instagram. He said: “Today I took home the crown. I won my rematch.”
Phillips and Arozarena are now tied. pic.twitter.com/OvteU49zQd— Juan Toribio (@juanctoribio) October 10, 2020
The Astros struck him out in his other three at-bats in Game 1, so it could be that Framber Valdez simply made one mistake too many. Right now, Arozarena isn’t missing any of those.
ZUNINO POWER
Given the importance the Rays place on pitching, the prime quality they seek in their catchers is an ability to frame pitches, call a good game and generally steward the men on the mound through the contest. Anything they contribute with the bat is a bonus.
In general, Zunino hasn’t given the Rays much at the plate the past two years, with a cumulative .556 OPS in 373 plate appearances. But with seasons of 25, 22 and 20 homers under his belt, any pitcher who takes him lightly risks paying for it.
Zunino’s line-drive single in the fifth was a good example of what he can do, as he reached out for a sinker well off the plate to drive in the go-ahead run. Valdez got the chase swing he wanted with the pitch, just not the result.
ROSTER GAMES
With the potential for seven games in seven days, both the Rays and Astros opted for an extra pitcher in the ALCS, splitting their rosters evenly 14-14 between pitchers and position players.
Seeking to also exploit the Astros’ slight dip in production against lefties (.232/.299/.403 during the regular season) over righties (.244/.318/.410), the Rays added left-hander Jose Alvarado, who had been on the 45-day injured list with shoulder issues, and lefty Josh Fleming.
Righty Trevor Richards, who replaced the injured Oliver Drake during the division series against the Yankees, and outfielder Brett Phillips were bounced to make room, while Drake was also designated for assignment to clear a roster spot on the 40.
The Astros, meanwhile, added right-hander Chase De Jong to their playoff roster, dropping outfielder Chas McCormick to make room. De Jong was originally a second-round pick of the Blue Jays in 2012 and was part of the 2015 trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers that secured some international bonus-pool room to reduce the penalty for the club’s overpay on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
The 26-year-old has bounced around plenty since, going to Seattle, where he debuted in the majors, then to Minnesota, and after his release there, signing as a free agent with the Astros.
GAME 2 MATCHUP
Charlie Morton faces Lance McCullers Jr., in the second game of the series Monday afternoon, but the veteran right-hander mused a little Sunday on his future beyond the ALCS.
The Rays hold a $15-million option on the right-hander, who extended his career with Tampa Bay two off-seasons ago because of the club’s proximity to his home. If the team wants him back, he told a Zoom call that, “I would be completely honoured and privileged to continue to play.”
Where things get stick is if the Rays decline the option and send him back into the market. The 37-year-old is a father of four and doesn’t want to disrupt his family life, but was also torn by the notion of his final season coming under COVID-19 protocols.
Either way, it’s a decision that will have a significant impact on the free-agent pitching market.
