Astros look to blast off while Nationals want to stay grounded
By: Ryan Duda
Staff Writer
The 2019 MLB Postseason has been one of the most exciting set of series’ in the history of baseball.
In the Divisional Series games, the teams that finished out on top and headed to the League Championship Series games included the Houston Astros, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals.
The ALCS was a back and forth series between the Houston Astros and New York Yankees. Game 1 was a very lopsided game in New York’s favor, as it ended 7-0.
22-year-old 2nd Baseman Gleyber Torres ended the game with 5 RBIs.
With the great plate appearances by Torres and great pitching performance by Masahiro Tanaka, this gave the Yankees the start they needed.
In Game 2, Carlos Correa’s bat of the Astros lifted them to an extra-inning win in Houston.
Games 3 and 4 were both hard-to-watch games for Yankees fans.
The Astros offense was just noticeably better than New York in these games in the Bronx.
Game 4 ended 8-3, with three-run home runs by both Carlos Correa and George Springer.
Game 5 in the Bronx was another game in which the Yankees came to play. In the first inning, the Yankee offense was electric. A home run by Aaron Hicks, who just returned from an injury, was the point in which fans knew that the New York Yankees came to play and seal a win (4-1).
Game 6 back in Houston was a very exciting game for all baseball fans. Simply speaking, the game was back and forth the entire way; with it being a bullpen match for both rosters, it was hard for pitchers to get in a groove.
In the 9th inning, the Yankees were down 4-2. This gave the team a chance to tie it up and force the Astros to get the win in the bottom of the inning.
DJ LeMahieu gave New York the juice they needed by having a long at-bat and hitting a home run to right field over the outstretched glove of Josh Reddick.
In the bottom of the inning, after the score being 4-4, Aroldis Chapman came into the game to hopefully shut down the Houston offense.
After a walk with 2 outs, Chapman was noticeably struggling, pitching a perfect ball for Jose Altuve to hit one deep, taking the series 4-2 over the Yankees.
In the NLCS, the Washington Nationals faced off against the St. Louis Cardinals.
In Games 1 and 2 in St. Louis, the Nationals won by the score of 2-0 and 3-1. The success of the Nationals was simply the pitching from Anibal Sanchez.
Game 2 was won in similar fashion, as Max Scherzer pitched a gem.
Games 3 and 4 of the best-of-7 series were both in Washington DC.
Game 3 was another win for the Nationals, with 3 RBIs coming off the bat of veteran infielder Howie Kendrick.
Along with the bats of the Nationals offense, driving in 8 runs in this game, Stephen Strasburg went 7 innings strong on the mound.
Strasburg finished his outing with 12 strikeouts and no walks. According to MLB Stats on Twitter (@MLBStats), Strasburg is one of three players with 10 or more strikeouts in four of their first seven Postseason starts.
In Game 4, the Washington Nationals scored 7 runs in the first inning, showing the MLB that they were the better team than the Cardinals in this series, winning the game 7-4.
The Washington Nationals are heading to the World Series.