Friday, October 15, 2021

Houston v. Boston

This year's ALCS is the third time that this generation of Houston Astros has met the BoSox in the post-season.  In 2017, Houston handled Boston without too much trouble -- the Astros won 8-2 in Game One, 8-2, in Game Two, lost 10-3 in Game Three, and won 5-4 in Game Four, thus eliminating the Red Sox at Fenway and showing that they were a team to be reckoned with.  The Astros then beat the Yankees and Dodgers to win the World Series.

The next year, however, the Red Sox were loaded for bear.  They met Houston in the ALCS and pummeled them.  After losing Game One in Fenway by the score of 7-2, the BoSox won four straight:  7-5, 8-2, 8-6, and 4-1.  Boston then blasted the Dodgers four games to one and captured the World Series, before collapsing in a haze of scandal and the loss of Mookie Betts.  However, the Red Sox have now recovered.

The other big Boston/Houston matchup, of course, is the Celtics/Rockets battles in the 1981 and 1986 finals, both of which went to Boston.

Here is how the Red Sox and Astros have done in LCS play.  Houston's appearances before 2017 relate to the NLCS, not the ALCS.  Appearances in bold indicate years in which the team won the pennant.  The Red Sox have won four of the last five ALCS in which they have appeared.

Houston (3-5):  1980, 1986, 2004, 20052017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021

Boston (6-5): 1975, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2018, 2021

17 comments:

  1. The 2017-21 Houston Astros have now joined the 1971-75 Oakland Athletics as the only team to appear in the ALCS five years in a row. Of course, the A's didn't cheat.

    Jeter's Yankees reached the ALCS four years in a row from 1998 through 2001, and made it seven times in nine years from 1996 through 2004.

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  2. Most pennants in the LCS era (both leagues):

    1. Yankees: 11
    2. Dodgers: 8
    3. Cardinals: 7
    4. Red Sox: 6
    5. Athletics: 6

    Given that each league has handed out 51 pennants in the LCS era, these figures show how difficult it is for any team to reach the World Series.

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    1. Indeed. It'd be interesting to see this tally for 1917-1968, which I didn't find in neat fashion via Googling this morning, but maybe that'll be my project during this series.

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    2. During the period from 1917 to 1968, the Yankees won 29 pennants.

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  3. In Houston, this game will be broadcast on FOX Channel 26, KRIV. Right now KRIV is showing a pre-game special where they have local reporters broadcasting from Minute Maid Park in Houston. It's called "Swing for the Ring."

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  4. Now KRIV has thrown it to a reporter who is outside Minute Maid Park interacting with Astros fans. She's wearing a mask, but none of the fans are.

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  5. I don't know who Eric would be rooting for here, but I can assure him that he would really like "Swing for the Ring." Here's the current headline: "OUTSIDE MMP: ASTROS FANS EXCITED FOR ALCS GAME 1."

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  6. Coming up next on "Swing for the Ring." "ASTROS TO ALCS: HOW THEY GOT HERE."

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  7. I've been to Minute Maid Park, and I liked it a lot.

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  8. ESPN is saying there may be 14 teams in the MLB playoffs next year. For myself, MLB can do whatever it wants -- but I will start watching when they get down to eight.

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  9. Also, of course, the more teams enter the playoffs, the less time I will spend watching the regular season.

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  10. I had forgotten how bad that FOX scorebug is. It is the worst one I've ever seen.

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  11. On the other hand, I have the ESPN radio broadcast perfectly synchronized with the TV picture. That always makes me happy.

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  12. I know we're all supposed to be convinced that the Astros are no longer cheating, but the fact that Jose Altuve last night raised his all-time-postseason batting average to .918 with 224 home runs makes me wonder.

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