The New York Yankees entered Thursday in a strong position to sweep the Houston Astros at Yankee Stadium. Not only had the Bronx Bombers taken the first two games of the series with practical ease, but ace Gerrit Cole was on the mound this afternoon.
The story writes itself. Cole reached his ace potential in two years with the Astros before signing with the Yankees as a free agent last year.
Contrastingly, on Houston’s end, Lance McCullers Jr. was the arm who stifled New York’s bats in four scoreless relief innings in Game 7 of the 2017 ALCS.