On April 20, the New York Yankees were 7.5 games behind the Boston Red Sox for first place in the American League East. They weren’t clicking as a team, and first-year manager Aaron Boone had to consistently answer the media regarding the team’s struggles.
Fast forward nine games later, and the Bronx Bombers have turned their season around. Thanks to the Toronto Blue Jays and the Tampa Bay Rays, the Yankees are now two games behind their Boston rivals entering play Monday night. And after sweeping the Minnesota Twins and the Los Angeles Angels, they are currently riding a nine-game win streak.
While the Yankees have been riding high these past nine games, they’re also about to get a dose of reality: they’re about to enter a rematch with the Houston Astros.
The last time the Yankees and Astros met, it was during the 2017 American League Championship Series. While the Yankees showed resilience during their home portion of the series, the Astros ended up defeating the Yanks in seven games and went on to play against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Fall Classic. While the Astros went on to win the World Series, the Yankees spent the offseason building their team for another postseason run. They overhauled their management, added Giancarlo Stanton in a blockbuster trade with the Miami Marlins, and placed more faith in their farm system.
Despite the Yankees making changes, the Astros started 2018 in dominant fashion; they are 19-10 in their first 29 games, and after a series win against the Oakland Athletics, show no signs of slowing down. The Astros are going to be hard to beat, but it’s not an impossible task. During the Yankees last nine games, they’ve outscored the opposition 64-18 and found creative ways to win each contest.
While this series doesn’t have playoff implications, the Yankees can still make a statement. They can solidify themselves as one of the most dominant teams in the American League East, and prove to the Astros that they’re a force to be reckoned with.
