Two strong teams took 1-0 leads, and a third New York-Houston series seems likely.
Let’s put the caveat up front: Nobody clinches a best-of-five series in Game 1. The Tampa Bay Rays and the Oakland Athletics won their divisions emphatically this season, and both could come back to meet in the American League Championship Series. But the Yankees have won all of their postseason games so far, just like the Houston Astros. Three games per team is a small sample, but it is all we have — and production sure seems underway for Part III of the Yankees/Astros A.L.C.S. trilogy, after Houston victories in 2017 and 2019. Both teams played close games for a while on Monday, then bludgeoned their way to lopsided decisions: 10-5 by the Astros over the A’s in Los Angeles, and 9-3 by the Yankees over the Rays in San Diego. The Astros smacked 16 hits (three for homers), and the Yankees 15 (four for homers). “That was big, to come out like we did, just wearing their pitchers down the whole game,” said the Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton, whose grand slam put the game out of reach in the ninth. “It was huge.” With no off-days in this round, pitching depth is essential. That would seem to favor the A’s and the Rays, whose bullpens were the best in the A.L. this season. Yet both teams’ relievers looked vulnerable on Monday, while the Astros and the Yankees combined for eight hitless, scoreless innings of relief. Somehow, it was hardly surprising. The Rays and the A’s are marvels of the modern game, experts at developing talent and finding bargains, never resorting to full-scale teardowns despite low payrolls and outdated stadiums. But postseason success eludes them. Ten different franchises have reached the A.L.C.S. since the last time the A’s or Rays got there. The A’s last appeared in 2006, the Rays in 2008. In the 2010s, Oakland made five trips to the postseason without reaching that round, Tampa Bay four. Both teams keep earning more chances, and a breakthrough by one or both would be fun to see. But until proven differently, expect teams to play to their track records.
