Astros–Yankees rivalry
| First meeting | June 10, 2003 Yankee Stadium I Yankees 5, Astros 3 |
|---|---|
| Latest meeting | September 3, 2023 Minute Maid Park Yankees 6, Astros 1 |
| Next meeting | March 28, 2024 Minute Maid Park |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 93 |
| Most wins | Yankees, 48 |
| Regular season series | Yankees, 43–32 (.573) |
| Postseason results | Astros, 13–5 |
| Largest victory | Astros: 15–1 (2015) Yankees: 13–0 (2008) |
| Longest win streak |
|
| Current win streak | Yankees, 3 |
| Post-season history | |
| |
The Astros–Yankees rivalry is a Major League Baseball (MLB) American League rivalry played between the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees. Originally an interleague matchup, the rivalry intensified as Houston emerged as World Series contenders following their move to the AL in 2013, in the process facing the Yankees in four postseason matchups.
Background[edit]
The Yankees were one of the original American League franchises, and they had just won their 19th World Series title in 1961 when the Astros (originally the Houston Colt .45s) joined the National League in the 1962 season. But while the Yankees remained one of the premier franchises in baseball with eight subsequent World Series titles, the Astros struggled for respectability, with only nine postseason berths and one World Series appearance as a National League team. But since the Astros moved to the American League in 2013, both teams began contending for the pennant in the years since, and along with the Boston Red Sox, the Astros and Yankees were among the AL's winningest teams in the last decade.
As of 2022, the Astros and Yankees played 86 times, 68 of which came in the regular season. The Yankees won 38 regular season games to the Astros' 30 and won eight of nine meetings during Houston's tenure in the National League. However, the Astros won 13 postseason games to the Yankees' five and they have never lost a postseason round. The 2022 series victory by the Astros made them the first team to have beat the Yankees in a postseason series four times. [1][2]
History[edit]
2003–2010: Interleague play[edit]
Prior to their first interleague meeting in 2003, the Astros and Yankees met in an exhibition game at the Astrodome, with the Astros winning 2–1.[3] The two teams' first official series was a three-game interleague matchup at the original Yankee Stadium from June 10–12, 2003. While the Yankees won two out of three games, the lone Astros victory was a combined no-hitter the team tossed on June 11, when six Astros pitchers no-hit the Yankees 8–0.[4] The Astros and Yankees met in two subsequent interleague series in 2008 and 2010, with the Yankees sweeping each three-game set.[1]
Both the Astros and Yankees twice came close from meeting in the World Series during Houston's tenure in the NL. In the 1980 postseason, the Astros lost to the Philadelphia Phillies 3–2 in the NLCS, while the Yankees were swept by the Kansas City Royals in the ALCS. Then in the 2004 postseason, the Astros lost in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS, while the Yankees infamously blew a 3–0 lead in losing to the rival Boston Red Sox in the ALCS.
2013–present: Emergence of a rivalry[edit]
In 2013, the Astros left the National League Central and moved to the American League West. As a result, the matchup against the Yankees turned into an intraleague series, with both teams facing each other six or seven times per season. This period saw the Astros emerge into a World Series contender led by José Altuve while the Yankees transitioned from the Core Four led by Derek Jeter to the Baby Bombers led by Aaron Judge.
The Astros and Yankees met in the postseason for the first time in the 2015 American League Wild Card Game. The Yankees finished with 87 wins to the Astros 86, so they got to host the game. But behind Dallas Keuchel's seven strikeouts in six shutout innings, and home runs from Colby Rasmus and Carlos Gómez, the Astros won the game 3–0.[5][6]
It was not until 2017, however, that the rivalry truly ignited. Prior to the season, the Yankees traded away all-star catcher Brian McCann to the Astros, freeing up playing time for youngster Gary Sánchez.[7] Both teams benefited from the trade, as Sánchez hit 33 home runs in his first full season, while McCann became a major veteran presence for the young Astros. Later in the season, both teams acquired top-tier pitchers, with the Astros bringing in Justin Verlander from the Detroit Tigers and the Yankees trading for Oakland Athletics ace Sonny Gray.[8][9] Both teams eventually reached the postseason, with the Astros winning 101 games while the Yankees finished with 91 wins.
The second postseason meeting took place in the 2017 American League Championship Series, with the Astros winning in seven games. Despite the Yankees' reputation for offensive excellence, which included Judge's then-Major League rookie record 52 home runs, they only mustered three runs in the four games played at Houston's Minute Maid Park, all of which New York lost. The Astros went on to win their first World Series title.[10][6]
Prior to the 2018 season, both teams engaged in trade talks involving then-Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole. While the Yankees initially emerged as front-runners for Cole, the Pirates ended up trading Cole to the Astros instead, further fueling the rivalry.[11] Cole would pitch for Houston until the end of the 2019 season, before joining the Yankees as a free agent in December 2019.[12] Cole was originally a Yankees draft pick, having been selected with the 28th overall pick in the 2008 draft, but did not sign.[13] Both teams came close to meeting for a second consecutive postseason in 2018, but while the Astros defeated the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS, the Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox in the same round.[14][15]
The third postseason meeting took place in the 2019 American League Championship Series, with both teams entering the playoffs with at least 100 wins in the regular season (Houston won 107 games while New York won 103 games). This series was famous for Game 6 in Houston. With the Astros leading 3–2 in the series and 4–2 in the game, Yankees slugger DJ LeMahieu tied the game with a two-run home run in the top of the 9th. In the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees called on closer Aroldis Chapman, but after George Springer was walked with two outs, Altuve launched a walk-off two-run home run to win the series for Houston. In doing so, the 2010s marked the first decade since the 1910s that the Yankees failed to reach the World Series, although they reached the playoffs in all but three seasons.[16][6]
The animosity between the two teams only grew stronger in recent years, especially due to the revelations of the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal,[17][18] with some believing that the sign stealing cost the Yankees the 2017 pennant; others, meanwhile, cite that the Yankees' poor offensive numbers meant they were likely to lose regardless.[19] Many Yankees and their fans also accused the Astros of cheating during the 2019 ALCS, most notably claiming that Altuve used an electronic buzzer to tell him what pitch Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman was pitching when Altuve hit a walk-off home run to win the series.[20][21] As a result, on May 4, 2021, when the Astros visited Yankee Stadium for the first time since the scandal broke out,[lower-alpha 1] Yankees fans vehemently heckled and taunted the team during batting practice and in the game.[22]
Many believe the rivalry continued to intensify during the 2022 season, particularly after Yankees general manager Brian Cashman blamed the Astros on a lack of postseason success for the Yankees, a comment some saw as hypocritical due to the Yankees having recently become the subject of a sign stealing scandal during the 2015–16 seasons.[23][24] On June 25, 2022, the Astros again threw a combined no-hitter against the Yankees, this time at the modern Yankee Stadium. Three different Astros pitchers combined to no-hit the Yankees, 3–0. This made Houston the only team since 1958 to throw two no-hitters on the road against the Yankees.[4] The no-hitter was sandwiched by two walk-off victories by the Yankees, both by Aaron Judge. On June 23, the Yankees trailed 3–0 and 6–3, but Judge won the game in the 10th inning on a walk-off single.[25] Three days later, after Astros pitcher José Urquidy carried a no-hitter into the 7th inning, the Yankees rallied to win 6–3 in the 10th on a walk-off home run by Judge. Judge's home run was one of his AL record 62 he would hit that season.[26]
The two teams would meet anew in the 2022 American League Championship Series. Prior to the series, a clip of a group of Yankees fans chanting "We Want Houston" went viral, with the phrase being adopted by the National League champion Philadelphia Phillies as well as the Astros players and fans themselves.[27] The Astros would go on to win the series in a four-game sweep.[28]
Notes[edit]
- ↑ The Astros and Yankees did not meet in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season due to the 60-game schedule consisting only of divisional and regional interleague matchups. They came close to meeting in the 2020 postseason, but the Yankees lost to the Tampa Bay Rays while the Astros defeated the Oakland Athletics in the ALDS.
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Astros–Yankees head-to-head records". Baseball-Reference. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
- ↑ "Astros–Yankees head-to-head records (including postseason)". mcubed.net. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
- ↑ "Looking back at the first Houston Astros game ever played in the Astrodome in 1965". KTRX (ABC-13). April 8, 2021. Retrieved 2022-04-12.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "10 amazing stats from Astros' combined no-no". MLB.com. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
- ↑ "Astros vs. Yankees – Game Summary – October 6, 2015 – ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Yankees-Astros rivalry: History of playoff meetings, bad blood as two sides meet again in 2022 ALCS". CBSSports.com. October 19, 2022. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
- ↑ "Yanks deal McCann to Astros for pitching prospects". MLB.com. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
- ↑ "Last-minute Verlander deal lifts up Houston". MLB.com. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
- ↑ "Yankees get Sonny Gray in trade with Athletics". MLB.com. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
- ↑ "2017 ALCS – Houston Astros over New York Yankees (4–3)". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
- ↑ "The biggest loser in the Gerrit Cole trade? The Yankees". YahooSports.com. January 14, 2018. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
- ↑ "Cole joins Yankees on 9-year deal". MLB.com. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
- ↑ "Yankees believed in Cole's talent back in 2008". MLB.com. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
- ↑ "2018 ALDS – Houston Astros over Cleveland Indians (3–0)". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
- ↑ "2018 ALDS – Boston Red Sox over New York Yankees (3–1)". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
- ↑ "2019 ALCS – Houston Astros over New York Yankees (4–2)". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
- ↑ Venook, Jeremy (2020-01-19). "The Astros' Cheating Scandal Rewrites a Decade of Baseball History". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
- ↑ Kernan, Kevin (2020-03-05). "Yankees furious with MLB in Astros cheating aftermath". New York Post. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
- ↑ NJ.com, Brendan Kuty | NJ Advance Media for (2019-11-12). "Yankees' Aaron Judge reacts with disbelief to Astros' cheating controversy". nj. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
- ↑ Pickman, Ben (February 16, 2020). "Manfred Addresses Buzzers, Astros Scandal at Press Conference". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
- ↑ "Hinch blows whistle, calls sign stealing suspicions 'a joke'". AP NEWS. 2019-10-18. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
- ↑ Lee, Joon (May 5, 2021). "New York Yankees fans jeer 'cheater' Houston Astros with boos, chants as home team wins". ESPN. Retrieved 2022-04-12.
- ↑ "Yankees GM Brian Cashman blames Astros scandal for World Series drought: 'We actually did it the right way'". March 31, 2022.
- ↑ "MLB detailed Yanks' illicit technology use in letter". 26 April 2022.
- ↑ "Yankees 7, Astros 6: Do not go gentle into that good night". SB Nation (Pinstripe Alley). 23 June 2022.
- ↑ "Yankees beat Astros in extras on Aaron Judge walk-off home run". New York Post. 26 June 2022.
- ↑ "Here are some of the best 'We want Houston' memes, reactions". 24 October 2022.
- ↑ "Astros sweep Yankees to reach 4th World Series in 6 years". ESPN.com. 2022-10-24. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
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