2017 ALCS - New York Yankees vs Houston Astros

This was certainly one way to get around the problem of having a crappy bullpen. Congrats Astros!

super impressive by morton/mcullers

McCullers said "Everyone wrote us off"?!

must be first franchise to win both league's pennants?

Larry Mullen Jr is a god

"We have no problems, Houston." JESUS.

i completely 100% always forget that the astros won the pennant in 2005

i can only ever think of the pujols HR so my brain keeps thinking the cards won

and i have a very clear memory of the white sox winning but not vs houston, it's weird to even imagine them in the WS before now

if you'd sat through the 18 inning ALDS Astros-Braves game you'd remember

oh wait, they were still in the national league then

Lance McCullers finished the game by throwing 24 consecutive curveballs. That is absurd.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 22, 2017

what a performance by former pirate great charlie morton

I did sit through that game! my brain also remembered it being vs the cards and not the braves lol

A-Rod: "How do you say his name, Gur--"
Burkhardt: "Oh, uh, Gattis?"

This is the first matchup of 100-win teams in the World Series since 1970, when the 108-win Orioles beat the 102-win Reds.

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 22, 2017

https://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.14523003.1508342305!/httpImage/image.png_gen/derivatives/landscape_640/image.png

the Cards loomed large in the mid-2000s era of Astros baseball

mostly I remember Julian Tavarez breaking his hand punching the phone box in the bullpen

i remember julian tavarez!

must be first franchise to win both league's pennants?

― Van Horn Street, Saturday, October 21, 2017 11:26 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

cards dodgers reds apparently

wait nvm i was thinking of willy taveras

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/nribztwbrq3jilw5qbmm.jpg

The great Astros playoff series I remember is their big match up against the Mets in 86. They played arguably the best extra inning playoff game ever in that series and it was the beginning of the legend of Billy Hatcher, who again in 1990 was a huge playoff hero for the Reds.

what a performance by former pirate great braves castoff charlie morton

― mookieproof, Sunday, 22 October 2017 03:44 (one hour ago) Permalink

Between the two of them, Morton and McCullers—two delicate arms whom many teams might not have trusted with postseason starts, or in Morton’s case, a multiyear contract—threw 65 curves in 108 pitches on Saturday, which was easily the highest-ever curveball usage rate (60.2 percent) in a single game. (According to Pitch Info data provided by David Appelman of FanGraphs, the highest previous single-game team curveball percentage in the pitch-tracking era was 52.5 percent, by the Dodgers on May 23, 2015, and no pitcher has ever relied on the curve as heavily in an outing of 50 or more pitches as McCullers did in Game 7.)

https://www.theringer.com/2017/10/22/16515788/houston-astros-beat-new-york-yankees-in-alcs-game-7

Man, I dunno, but watching McCullers throw 19 curveballs in a row makes you wonder whether everybody been doing this wrong for 150 (!) years

— Sam Miller (@SamMillerBB) October 22, 2017

just catching up on this game..... holy shit @ the bregman throw to mccann in the 5th

the courage, the trust, the execution whoeeee

and loooool at springer jumping over marwin for that catch! and marwin just leaning himself against the fence, like sheeeeeeeit

love Houston now. <3 <3 springer catching that last pop-up, holding his glove up with one hand and pointing with the other and shouting "LET'S GO!!"

https://d26dzxoao6i3hh.cloudfront.net/items/0o2i3a3s193R3Y2v311l/IMG_7286.jpg

http://www.mlb.com/images/3/6/0/259282360/102117_springer_gonzalez_med.gif

still can't believe 28 curveballs to finish the game

yikes, hope they can make it work pic.twitter.com/pKi0lJx02m

— Meg Rowley (@megrowler) October 22, 2017

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HmGPaIbuHXWTqX7sqhkRREcIHBE=/1000x0/filters:no_upscale%28%29/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9510335/Screen_Shot_2017_10_21_at_10.03.15_PM.jpg

my guess is altuve and JV could be co-MVPs

― Michael F Gill

That would have been my pick too. I know they did that for the '81 Dodgers in the World Series (three guys, I think)--maybe they don't do it for the LCS.