Baseball is a very streaky sport, more than any other. Hitters go through hitting streaks and batting slumps. Teams go through winning streaks and losing streaks; it’s the nature of the sport.
Just look at the Cleveland Indians. They won twenty two (22) games in a row, appearing invincible. Now they’re sitting at home watching the Yankees, the team that defeated them, struggling against the Houston Astros.
By the way, I’m not a Yankees fan, so it’s not as if I’m defending them. Although having said that, I do respect the Yankees quite a bit for one reason. They don’t allow their players to have facial hair or long hair. This means that their players don’t look like a bunch of morons, such as those on other teams, especially the Boston Red Sox. So in that respect, I do admire the Yankees. TGO
Refer to story below. Source: Yahoo Sports
Mark Townsend,Big League Stew
The New York Yankees have a strikeout problem.
That much was apparent during the ALDS, when they struck out 64 times during a five-game series against the Cleveland Indians. The troubling trend continued in Friday’s 2-1 loss to Houston in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. Dallas Keuchel sliced and diced their lineup to the tune of 10 strikeouts, before closer Ken Giles closed the door with four more during a five-out save.
It’s a problem New York will have to fix. The sooner the better too. Unfortunately, Game 2 on Saturday won’t be conducive to improved contact rates. Awaiting them is a matchup against Justin Verlander, the Astros prized acquisition before the Aug. 31 waiver deadline.
Verlander’s ability to miss bats and strike batters out is well documented. He’s led the American League in that category four times, including in 2016 when he mowed down 254. With the motivation of pitching in the postseason again pushing him, the 34-year-old right-hander will undoubtedly present a challenge for the flailing Yankees.
If there’s hope for New York, it might be that this strikeout issue is new. At least relative to the rest of Major League Baseball. They were middle of the pack in that department during the regular season, finishing with 1,386. That’s about 200 less than the league-leading Milwaukee Brewers.
In the postseason, New York has now struck out at least 11 times in six out of seven postseason games, including 30 over the last two games. The outlier was their 8-4 win against Minnesota in the AL wild-card game, when they struck out just five times.
Much of the inflated strikeout total can be attributed to Aaron Judge. He struck out 16 times during the ALDS, which set a postseason record for a single player in any series. Judge did that in five games, while no other player had struck out more than 13 times in even a seven-game series.
But he’s not alone. That was evidenced in Game 1 of the ALDS, when Judge accounted for just one of New York’s 14 strikeouts.
The Yankees were able to overcome it against Cleveland, though that can probably can be attributed to the fact the Indians struck out nearly as often. They went down 61 times in five games. The Astros won’t be so accommodating when it comes to furnishing empty plate appearances. They struck out the least of any team in MLB during the regular season (1,087), and they’ve only struck out 35 times through five postseason games.
It might not seem like a big deal, but it’s something that can change the outlook of a series. Houston is a team that will put pressure on the defense by getting the ball in play. If there was one big difference in Game 1, look no further than Jose Altuve beating out an infield hit, stealing second and then scoring on Carlos Correa’s single. Altuve made something happen, while New York depended too much on one big swing changing the game.
They got one from Greg Bird in the ninth inning. He took Giles off the foul pole in right field for a solo home run. It wasn’t enough, and it won’t be enough if New York continues striking out in the double digits. If that doesn’t change, it’s going to be the biggest obstacle the Yankee will have to overcome if they hope to advance past the Houston Astros and into the World Series for the first time since 2009.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!