2017 ALCS: Astros Beat the Yankees in Seven

Here's something I still think about: every game the New York Yankees played in Houston in October 2017, they lost. Four games, four losses, the same opponent, the same park, the same result. That kind of pattern doesn't usually mean nothing. And when the Commissioner's report dropped in January 2020, confirming the Astros' sign-stealing scheme ran "throughout the 2017 postseason," it turned out the pattern meant exactly what it looked like.

The 2017 ALCS wasn't stolen from us in some dramatic, single-moment way. It was more like a slow leak -- one game in Houston, then another, then the series slipping away in Game 7 at Minute Maid Park while Charlie Morton and Lance McCullers threw shutout ball at a lineup that couldn't solve them. We went home. Houston went to the World Series. And we spent two years being told it was fair.

It wasn't fair.

The Baby Bombers Had Something Real

Before we get to the fraud, give these guys credit: the 2017 Yankees were actually good. This wasn't the 84-win, going-nowhere squads that treaded water through 2014-2016. This was a team built around Aaron Judge -- whose 52-homer rookie season remains one of the most electric individual performances I've ever watched -- Gary Sanchez, Didi Gregorius, and a rotation that was finally starting to look like one. They won 91 games, took down the Minnesota Twins in the wild card game, then came back from 0-2 down to beat the Cleveland Indians in five ALDS games. Didi hit two homers in the clincher. This team earned its way to the ALCS the hard way.

Against a 101-win Astros squad with home-field advantage? They made it a fight. That matters, even retroactively.

Games 1 and 2: Dead on Arrival in Houston

Dallas Keuchel started Game 1. Seven innings, four hits, zero runs, 10 strikeouts. The Yankees managed to score exactly once -- in a 2-1 loss -- against Keuchel and the Houston bullpen combined. Masahiro Tanaka pitched well enough to win on most nights. This wasn't most nights.

Game 2 was worse because it felt like it could have been different. Justin Verlander -- who the Astros had acquired from Detroit on the August 31 trade deadline -- threw a complete game at Minute Maid Park. Nine innings, one run, 13 strikeouts, 124 pitches. Luis Severino lasted four innings, but the bullpen held the 1-1 tie all the way to the ninth. And then Aroldis Chapman came in to protect it and gave up a walk-off RBI double to Carlos Correa. Astros 2, Yankees 1. Series lead: 2-0.

(Down 0-2 heading back to New York, most Yankees seasons were over. This team was different. That's what made the ending hurt more.)

Games 3, 4, 5: The Bronx Woke Up

Yankee Stadium in October is a different place. The 2017 home games proved it.

Game 3 wasn't close. CC Sabathia gave the Astros absolutely nothing for six shutout innings -- three hits, four walks, five strikeouts -- and the offense backed him up with everything. Todd Frazier hit a three-run homer. Judge added another three-run shot. Final score: 8-1. The Bronx was back in it.

Game 4 was the series' best baseball. Sonny Gray pitched five solid innings against McCullers, and the Astros built a 4-0 lead mostly off the bullpen, but then in the eighth inning Judge led off with a solo homer, then Gary Sanchez hit a go-ahead two-run double, and the Yankees completed the comeback to win 6-4. Back-to-back come-from-behind wins in October, in the Bronx.

Game 5 was Tanaka at his best: seven innings, three hits, zero runs, eight strikeouts, 104 pitches. The Yankees won 5-0 to take a 3-2 series lead heading back to Houston.

Three home games. Three wins. The Yankees were one win away from the World Series.

Then they went back to Minute Maid Park.

Game 6: Verlander Again

Facing elimination, the Astros handed the ball to Verlander. He threw seven shutout innings. Jose Altuve -- who beat out Judge for the AL MVP in the regular season (Altuve hit .346 with 24 HR and 81 RBI; Judge hit 52 homers and was unanimous Rookie of the Year) -- drove in three runs: a two-run single off Severino in the fifth and a solo homer off David Robertson in the eighth. Final: 7-1. Series tied 3-3.

Verlander finished the ALCS with a 0.56 ERA, 21 strikeouts in 16 innings, and two wins in two critical starts. He joined Bob Gibson, Curt Schilling, and Sandy Koufax as the only pitchers to record 20-plus strikeouts against the Yankees in a single postseason series. The man was dominant. Credit where it's due -- while noting that home field, and what was happening in that building, mattered.

Game 7: The Door Closes

Charlie Morton went five innings in the clincher and allowed two hits. McCullers came on for the final four innings and gave up one hit while striking out six. The Yankees were shut out 4-0. It was the first AL pennant in franchise history for the Astros -- they'd been a National League team until 2013, so their 2005 World Series appearance had been under a different league's flag. This was different. This was theirs.

And it was ours to lose.

The Sign-Stealing

Here's what we found out two years later: the Astros ran a real-time sign-stealing scheme at Minute Maid Park throughout the 2017 season and postseason. A camera in center field captured the catcher's signs. Staff near the dugout decoded them and relayed the information to hitters by banging a trash can -- one bang for an off-speed pitch, nothing for a fastball. Rob Manfred's investigation, released January 13, 2020, confirmed the scheme operated "throughout the 2017 postseason," explicitly including the ALCS against the Yankees.

The Yankees went 0-4 in games played in Houston. Every loss in the series was in that building. The Yankees went 3-0 when they hosted the Astros -- they beat this team when the scheme wasn't running. They couldn't beat them when it was.

Manfred said he couldn't determine the precise impact on game results. He's technically right. But 0-4 in Houston is a data point.

Judge deleted his congratulatory social media posts to Altuve after the news broke. Tanaka said he felt cheated out of a World Series. Severino responded to questions about it with angry-face emojis, which honestly captures the spirit of it. Chapman said Altuve's behavior during the 2019 ALCS -- when Altuve famously grabbed his jersey to prevent teammates from ripping it off -- was "a little suspicious." (It was, in fact, suspicious. He later said his wife didn't want him shirtless on TV. Sure.)

Manfred fined the Astros $5 million -- the maximum allowed -- and stripped them of first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021. He suspended AJ Hinch and Jeff Luhnow for a year; both got fired by ownership the same day the report dropped. No players faced discipline because Manfred offered immunity in exchange for cooperation during the investigation. (Immunity. For the players who were actually banging the trash can. Sure.) The trophies stayed.

Brian McCann's World Series Ring

Brian McCann, who had been a fixture in the Yankees clubhouse for years, signed with the Astros before 2017. In Game 1 of the ALCS, he threw out Greg Bird at the plate on a 97 mph throw from Marwin Gonzalez to kill a New York rally. McCann went on to win the World Series that October -- the championship the Yankees have been chasing ever since. Baseball can be genuinely cruel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did the Astros steal signs against the Yankees in the 2017 ALCS?

Yes -- the Manfred investigation confirmed the Astros' trash-can scheme ran "throughout the 2017 postseason," which explicitly included the ALCS. The scheme used a center-field camera at Minute Maid Park to decode catcher signs and relay pitch types to hitters via trash can bangs. The Yankees went 0-4 in games played at Minute Maid Park during the series and 3-0 at Yankee Stadium, where the scheme wasn't in operation.

Who won the 2017 ALCS MVP award?

Justin Verlander was named ALCS MVP after going 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 16 innings across two starts -- Games 2 and 6. Both of his appearances came at high-stakes moments when the Astros needed momentum or needed to survive elimination. He was acquired from Detroit at the August 31 trade deadline and validated that move as loudly as any pitcher could.

How did Aaron Judge perform in the 2017 ALCS?

Judge hit .250 with 3 home runs and 7 RBI in seven games -- a solid series against a dominant Astros pitching staff. His homer in Game 4 started the eighth-inning comeback from 4-0 down, and he'd hit three-run shots in Game 3 as well. His season context makes the series more poignant: he'd hit 52 home runs during the regular season to break the rookie record and won unanimous AL Rookie of the Year. The sign-stealing revelations retroactively add complexity to his narrow AL MVP loss to Jose Altuve that year.

What is the significance of the home team going 7-0 in the 2017 ALCS?

Every single game in the series was won by the home team -- the Yankees went 3-0 in New York and the Astros went 4-0 in Houston. It made the 2017 ALCS one of only five best-of-seven postseason series in MLB history where the home team went undefeated. Given that the Astros' sign-stealing scheme only operated at Minute Maid Park (using their home park's camera setup), the 7-0 home record has taken on a different meaning in retrospect.

How did Yankees players react to the sign-stealing revelations?

The reactions ranged from restrained to openly furious. Judge deleted his congratulatory posts to Altuve on social media. Tanaka said he felt cheated out of a World Series appearance. Severino's on-record response to press questions was angry-face emojis. Chapman called Altuve's famous jersey-grabbing moment after the 2019 walk-off "a little suspicious." Sanchez took a pointed jab at Altuve's story, saying if he'd hit a series-winning homer he wouldn't have cared about people tearing his shirt off.

We already knew the answer, kind of. We just needed two more years for the proof.