Houston Astros: Five biggest road blocks to a World Series title

New York Yankees

Now the New York Yankees aren’t guaranteed a playoff spot, nor are they guaranteed to even get out of the Wild Card game they’re currently slotted to play at home should they earn that playoff spot.

But they are a dangerous team to contend with especially if you have a struggling rotation and bullpen. The Yankees actually have a similar make up to the Astros as offensively they are stout. They’re second in runs scored and in walks and are top 10 in pretty much every offensive category.

While they’re not as dominant offensively as the Astros and have quite a few holes the Astros don’t have (they’ve struck out the 7th most times of any team in baseball for example), their bullpen beats ours hands down. And shut down bullpens are a big advantage come post season baseball.

The Astros and Yankees starting rotations actually have quite comparable numbers. Here they are side by side:

• Astros and Yankees starting staff ERA’s are an identical 4.06.
• Astros starting rotation has throw 723.1 innings in 130 games to the Yankees 727.1 innings pitched in 129 games.
•  The Yankees have given up more home runs with 110 allowed to the Astros 93 and the Astros have struck out more batters at 750 to the Yankees 710.
• The Astros have walked more batters at 255 to the Yankees 221 and have a higher WHIP at 1.29 to 1.25 for the Yankees.
• The batting average against is almost identical at .247 for the Astros to the Yankees .245.

So while the Astros have the offensive edge and the rotation is pretty even, the bullpen is the scariest part about facing the Yankees. The Astros bullpen has been less than stellar this year, ranking 16th in ERA at 4.19, while the Yankees are fourth in bullpen ERA at 3.42.

What’s most surprising is that the Yankees bullpen struggles are mostly due to Aroldis Chapman‘s ineffectiveness. They have five other relievers in their bullpen that have ERA’s of 2.80 or under (Chasen Shreve, Adam Warren, Dellin Betances, Chad Green and David Robertson.) If Chapman rights the ship this bullpen can end the game at the fifth inning if the Yankees so choose.

For the Astros to beat the Yankees they would have to get to Luis Severino and Sonny Gray early because this is a tough bullpen to rally against making them a scary prospect.

But since the Yankees have to get a wild card spot and also win a wild card game (which is always a tricky prospect) they’re ranked third on this list.