The top two teams in the American League are the last two standing as we begin the Championship Series on Wednesday. It’s the exact opposite of what’s going on in the National League between the Padres and Phillies, and hopefully, it will put a pause on all those knee jerk claims that the expanded-postseason format is putting the best teams at an unfair disadvantage.
Once again, we get the most familiar and spiciest ALCS matchup of the past six seasons: the Astros vs. the Yankees. The rivalry is heated, though mostly one-sided. Houston has played in three of the last five World Series, with two of those trips coming after beating New York to get there.