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Monday ALCS open thread

The Yankees and Astros resume the ALCS in New York tonight. The Yankees are still looking for their first win in the series. They turn to CC Sabathia for Game 3.

League Championship Series - New York Yankees v Houston Astros - Game Two Photo by Elsa/Getty Images

The Yankees and the Astros have played two games of the American League Championship Series so far and the Astros have won both. That’s plenty OK with me. The sooner the Yankees are dispatched from this picture, the better that will be for my general happiness as a baseball fan. Those guys have won quite enough for my lifetime, thank you.

The series shifts to New York for the next three games, if they end up needing to play three games. Home teams have done very well in this postseason, with the key exception being the Nationals. Maybe that’s not too surprising given that the teams that have had home field advantage have been the teams that played better in the regular season.

Can the Astros make something happen on the road tonight? They’ll be looking to do so in support of starter Charlie Morton. I’m not sure how many MLB starting pitchers I’d have to name before I got around to thinking about Morton, but the 33-year-old had a 3.62 ERA in 25 starts for the Astros this year, including 163 strikeouts in 146.2 innings pitched. Not bad for a guy whose career WAR, before this year, was negative.

Today's Lineups

HOUSTON ASTROS NEW YORK YANKEES
George Springer - CF Brett Gardner - LF
Alex Bregman - 3B Aaron Judge - RF
Jose Altuve - 2B Didi Gregorius - SS
Carlos Correa - SS Gary Sanchez - C
Yulieski Gurriel - DH Greg Bird - 1B
Evan Gattis - C Starlin Castro - 2B
Marwin Gonzalez - 1B Aaron Hicks - CF
Josh Reddick - RF Todd Frazier - 3B
Cameron Maybin - LF Chase Headley - DH
Charlie Morton - RHP CC Sabathia - LHP