The Los Angeles Dodgers were “the dragon up the freeway” the San Diego Padres had to slay in order to advance their World Series quest, the club’s owner Peter Seidler said this summer.
On the other side of the country, the New York Yankees have their own dragon: the Houston Astros, which are blocking their path back to the World Series for the first time since 2009.
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“Exactly,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said in an interview Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium after New York beat Cleveland 5-1, eliminating the Guardians in a hard-fought five-game American League Division Series. “We talked about that when they beat us there in a doubleheader after the All-Star break. We’d have to come back to Houston. And here we are. We’ll take our shot.”
The best-of-seven American League Championship Series begins at Minute Maid Park Wednesday night. Talk about a quick turnaround.
The teams are meeting for the third time in the ALCS since 2017, with the Astros winning the first two series. For the Yankees, there was also the matter of a wild-card loss to the Astros in 2015 and five losses this season in the seven games between the two teams, including that July 21 doubleheader and a three-pitcher no hitter at Yankee Stadium June 25.
Two years ago, the Astros were fined and sanctioned for stealing signs and banging the trash cans loudly, tainting both victories over the Yankees and their 2017 World Series win against the Dodgers. New York still feels cheated as the team struggles to win its 28th World Series title.
“The only thing that derailed us was a cheating circumstance that threw us off,” Yanks general manager Brian Cashman told The Athletic in March.
Not this season.
Unlike in the National League, where the Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres eliminated three 100-win teams to ascend to the NLCS, the Astros and Yankees are the best teams in Major League Baseball still standing.
Houston led the AL with 106 wins and had the ninth highest payroll in MLB of $192.9 million. New York won 99 with the No. 3 payroll of $264.9 million.
Boone knows the Astros, under the tutelage of veteran manager Dusty Baker, are a force. They are in the ALCS for a record sixth time in a row, with the past three under Baker. And last season—after the fines, suspensions, firings and scandal—they were back in the World Series, only to lose to the Atlanta Braves.
“They’ve shown themselves to be the best team in the AL this year,” Boone said. “They have homefield advantage. They have the No. 1 seed. They took care of the Seattle Mariners in three games in their ALDS, but a very competitive three games. We’ll have our work cut out for us.”
Demons can certainly be purged. The Boston Red Sox, for example, overcame the Curse of the Bambino in 2004, reversing a 0-3 ALCS deficit to defeat the Yanks and then win their first World Series since 1918.
But for now the Yankees have been Houston’s baby. Baseball’s latest meme was born when Cleveland’s Josh Naylor rocked his arms trotting around the bases after homering off Gerrit Cole in Sunday’s Game 4 New York win. But life comes at you fast, and the playoffs are for grownups.
Fans at Yankee Stadium serenaded Naylor and the Guardians Tuesday with chants of “who’s your daddy?” as the Yanks wrapped up their Game 5 victory. The chant reached its crescendo in the ninth inning as Cleveland expired.
It was a tough series replete with ups and downs and two rainouts at the stadium, taking eight days to complete. Game 5 opened with Giancarlo Stanton’s three-run homer, giving the Yanks what turned out to be an insurmountable 3-0 lead. Game over. Series over.
“October baseball you have to deal with whatever comes your way,” Cashman said in an interview Monday night after Game 5 was postponed by rain. “Whatever comes our way we have to find our way through it the best we can. The object is to keep playing.”
The Astros have been idle since sweeping the Mariners in their own ALDS this past Saturday with an 18-inning, 1-0 win at Seattle. Seven ALCS games are slated to be played in the next eight days—if it doesn’t rain.
The retractable roof in Houston offers some certainty with regards to the weather the next two days, but then it’s back to the Bronx where the skies are wide open and the temperature on Tuesday was downright chilly.
The expectations are always high on the Yanks to win the World Series, no matter the weather or opponent.
“That’s all part of being a major league athlete and playing in New York,” Boone said. “There’s pressures that come with it to varying degrees. You have to be able to handle those things and deal with those thing. Sometimes it can get in your way a little bit.”
He should know. As a player, Boone’s walk-off 11th inning Game 7 homer at the old stadium beat Boston in the 2003 ALCS.
The very next year the Red Sox slayed the Yankees dragon. The next eight days will determine if the Houston dragon still remains.
(This story has updated the headline.)