After a season that featured dominance from both division-winning teams, for the third time in the last six years, the New York Yankees and Houston Astros meet in the American League Championship Series.
With both teams looking to punch their ticket to the World Series, the Astros, whose 106-56 record earned them the No. 1 seed in the league, return to the ALCS for a sixth consecutive season. The Yankees finished behind the Astros with a 99-63 record during the regular season and are back in the ALCS for the first time since 2019.
That also was a matchup against Houston, which New York lost in in six games.
Clinching their ALCS appearance with a Game 5 win against the Cleveland Guardians at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night, the Yankees look to secure their first World Series appearance since their last championship in 2009. Despite being pushed to a winner-take-all Game 5 against the Guardians, the New York bats of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Harrison Bader, and pitching of Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes and strong bullpen, provided enough to carry them past the young, scrappy AL Central champs.
As for the Astros, who defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2017 World Series, they secured their championship series birth with a sweep of the Seattle Mariners.
That was punctuated with a 1-0 clinching victory in Game 3 that took 18 innings. Houston, who most recently lost in both their 2019 and 2021 World Series appearances, is looking to avenge last year’s defeat at the hands of the Atlanta Braves.
While the playoffs have shown that the regular season records or head-to-head results don’t matter much, especially in the National League Championship Series, it’s worth noting that Houston won the season series against New York by taking five of the seven games.
In Game 1 of the ALCS is Wednesday night, Jameson Taillon is expected to start on the mound for New York while Justin Verlander takes the ball for Houston. Verlander, in his age-39 season, led all AL pitchers in both ERA (1.75) and WHIP (0.83) during the regular season.
Every ALCS game will be broadcasted on TBS.
Complete 2022 ALCS schedule with available start times and TV information
Game 1: Wednesday, Oct. 19, Minute Maid Park, 4:37 p.m. PT (TBS)
Game 2: Thursday, Oct. 20, Minute Maid Park, 4:37 p.m. PT (TBS)
Game 3: Saturday, Oct. 22, Yankee Stadium, 2:07 p.m. PT (TBS)
Game 4: Sunday, Oct. 23, Yankee Stadium, 4:07 p.m. PT (TBS)
Game 5*: Monday, Oct. 24, Yankee Stadium, 1:07 p.m. PT (TBS)
Game 6*: Tuesday, Oct. 25, Minute Maid Park, 3:07 p.m. PT (TBS)
Game 7*: Wednesday, Oct. 26, Minute Maid Park, 4:47 p.m. PT (TBS)
*if necessary
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