Game 1 featured two finesse pitchers in Masahiro Tanaka of the Yankees and Dallas Keuchel of the Houston Astros. That won’t be the case in Game 2, however, as Luis Severino and Justin Verlander are expected to throw gas from the mound.
Severino’s 97.8 mph average fastball velocity topped FanGraphs’ leaderboard for all Major League starters in 2017. Verlander ranked eighth on that list, averaging 95.6 mph.
This has been a breakout season for the Yankees’ 23-year-old right-hander. Questions persisted whether Severino was fit for the rotation after losing eight of 11 starts with a bloated 8.