New York Yankees (99-63, first in the AL East during the regular season) vs. Houston Astros (106-56, first in the AL West during the regular season)
Houston; Wednesday, 7:37 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Yankees: Jameson Taillon (14-5, 3.91 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 151 strikeouts); Astros: Justin Verlander (18-4, 1.75 ERA, .83 WHIP, 185 strikeouts)
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Astros -198, Yankees +166; over/under is 6 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Houston Astros square off against the New York Yankees on Wednesday in Game 1 of the ALCS.
Houston has a 106-56 record overall and a 55-26 record in home games. The Astros have the seventh-best team on-base percentage in the majors at .319.
New York has a 99-63 record overall and a 42-39 record in road games. The Yankees have a 69-11 record in games when they scored five or more runs.
Wednesday's game is the eighth time these teams square off this season. The Astros are ahead 5-2 in the season series.
TOP PERFORMERS: Yordan Alvarez has 29 doubles, two triples, 37 home runs and 97 RBI for the Astros. Jeremy Pena is 12-for-39 with a double, a triple, three home runs and seven RBI over the past 10 games.
Anthony Rizzo has 21 doubles, a triple, 32 home runs and 75 RBI while hitting .224 for the Yankees. Aaron Judge is 7-for-34 with three home runs over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 7-3, .247 batting average, 2.25 ERA, outscored opponents by eight runs
Yankees: 5-5, .188 batting average, 2.86 ERA, outscored opponents by four runs
INJURIES: Astros: Michael Brantley: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Jason Castro: 60-Day IL (knee), Josh James: 60-Day IL (lat)
Yankees: Aaron Hicks: day-to-day (knee), Ron Marinaccio: 15-Day IL (shin), Zack Britton: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Frankie Montas: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Luis Gil: 60-Day IL (elbow), Andrew Benintendi: 10-Day IL (wrist), Michael King: 60-Day IL (elbow), Chad Green: 60-Day IL (elbow), Stephen Ridings: 60-Day IL (shoulder)
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
