We’re almost there. A couple of more weeks and we’ll finally have playoff baseball yet again. But before we get there, we have a handful of games left, including the second game of a quick two-game set between the Rangers and Astros.
On Tuesday, Justin Verlander shut down the Rangers with six scoreless innings en route to a Houston victory. Not that it really matters, both teams are locked in their spots in the playoff race, with the Astros being one of the best teams in the league while the Rangers are going to miss the playoffs yet again. The only thing on the line in this series is home-field advantage as the Astros are tied with the Yankees at 99 wins, though the Astros can make their postseason official with a win.
Probable Pitchers
Wednesday features quite the intriguing pitching matchup. For the Rangers, rookie Kolby Allard will take the hill for his eighth start of the season. So far in 2019, he has been terrific, with a flawless 4-0 record and a 4.34 earned run average. Allard has been impressive so far this season after coming over from Atlanta at the trade deadline.
He’s had terrific starts against the Brewers, White Sox, Mariners and Orioles. Granted three of those four teams are really bad, but it’s important for a young pitcher to establish himself in the big leagues no matter the opposition. One of, if not the most impressive thing so far for Allard is the fact that he’s given up only one home run in 37 1/3 innings pitched. The one he did give up was to Albert Pujols, one of the best home run hitters of the last 15 years.
For the Astros, Cy Young candidate Gerrit Cole will get the ball for his 31st start of the season. It can not be understated how incredible Cole has been this season. He’s 17-5 with a 2.62 ERA, and a 13.66 K/9. Even crazier, he started the season 1-4, and he wasn’t even pitching that bad.
And then he hit another level. In his last 19 starts, Cole is a perfect 13-0 with a 1.85 earned run average and 192 strikeouts. Maybe the only reason that Cole won’t win the Cy Young this year is because his teammate, Verlander, has been just as good, if not better than him. However, Texas is easily the team he’s had the toughest time with this season. He’s 1-2 with an ERA of 6.45 in four starts against them.
Batters To Watch
Yordan Alvarez refuses to slow down and has been absolutely running away with the AL ROY race for some time now. He’s batting .315 with 25 home runs and 75 RBI in only 77 games this season. That’s an ungodly pace. He homered again on Tuesday night for the second time in the last three games. He does strike out a lot, 24.5 percent of the time, but he also walks a lot with a BB% of 14.5 percent.
The Pick
I know Cole has struggled with the Rangers in the past, but I just don’t see a way they get to him again with how good he has been. Three of the four games he pitched against them were very early in the season before he became untouchable. Make it 20 straight starts without a loss for Cole. Take the Astros.
