With Jose Altuve ending the New York Yankees hopes of a potential comeback in the latter part of a game six ALCS game in Houston, it leaves plenty of questions on the table to consider. First and foremost, catcher Gary Sanchez comes into question.
In a year where expectations were high, Sanchez struggled behind the plate in the postseason, hitting just .130 over nine games. He also allowed numerous wild pitches and was porous with respect to framing pitches. All around, Sanchez was below average, forcing the Yankees to continue on without support from their supposed ‘elite’ catcher. The Yankees losing in the ALCS boils down to a variety of factors, and while Sanchez was undoubtedly one of them, he wasn’t the most significant.
The 3 reasons the New York Yankees lost to the Houston Astros:
1.) Lack of adaptation
Houston manager A.J. Hinch was far more prepared and capable of deciphering the Yankees tendencies than Aaron Boone. He quickly identified trends and assisted in enabling his hitters to take advantage of lackluster pitching and defensive shifts. That advantage ultimately allowed the Astros to win two straight games in New York and the finale in Houston.
The Astros’ players were clearly more motivated and confident in every facet of the game. While the Yankees did have solid pitching, Houston found weaknesses in the rotation to capitalize on. They did exactly what the Yankees couldn’t — score with runners in scoring position.
2.) Starting pitching
The Yankees lacked the starting pitching quality to compete against the Astros. While the rotation of James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka, and Luis Severino are solid, they’re no match for Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, and Zack Greinke. Competing against an elite three-man rotation like that is nearly impossible, and while the Bombers put up a fight, the expectation of beating them was always dipped in doubt.
This offseason, the New York Yankees will pursue Cole, as he will be a free agent. Cole could earn $30 million per season, and the Yanks will have the money to spend. They cannot be conservative with their starting pitching moving forward.
3.) Hitting consistency
After the top three batters in the order (DJ LeMahieu, Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres) none of the remaining players averaged over .238. That’s seven players that were incapable of recording a hit at least 25% of the time. The biggest perpetrators were Edwin Encarnacion (.056 BA), Sanchez (.130 BA), and Brett Gardner (.136 BA).
Next season, the Yankees must be consistent in the post-season. They swept the Minnesota Twins with ease but struggled against a talented Astros team. It ultimately came down to pitching, and that spelled the end for the Yankees.