It’s Game One of the American League Championship Series, and it features a pair of teams from the Lonestar State, as the Texas Rangers are on the road at the Houston Astros.
These two teams are quite familiar with each other, as they played as part of the American League West schedule numerous times. These two teams tied with the exact same record, at 90-72 on the season.
Houston picked up the tiebreaker due to their head-to-head season series lead over the Rangers. The Houston Astros are the favorites in this game.
Houston is listed at -144, with a total of 8.5 runs in this game. You can grab the underdog, Texas Rangers at +122.
Game 1 Pitching Matchup
Jordan Montgomery gets the start for the Texas Rangers in this one. The former St. Louis Cardinals lefthander finished the regular season with a 10-11 regular with part of the season in St. Louis and the second half with the Rangers. He made 32 starts and threw 188.2 innings, striking out 166 batters.
In the postseason, Montgomery has thrown 11 innings, allowing 15 hits and four runs while striking out 7. Montgomery won his start against the Rays and then had a no-decision against Baltimore.
Justin Verlander is going to get the nod for the Houston Astros. Verlander is 40 years old and has a 13-8 record on the season and a 3.22 earned run average.
Verlander pitched six innings in the win over the Twins in the divisional series. He struck out six batters in that game. During the regular season, Verlander made 27 starts and struck out 144 batters over 162 innings.
High Flying Offenses Meet Up
The Houston Astros did not need to score a ton of runs in the series win over the Twins. In fact, Houston scored just five runs per game. While that seems good, this is an offense that can explode for more at any point.
The pitching was strong, allowing just 13 runs in the series. During the regular season, the Astros were the fifth-highest-scoring team in Major League Baseball with 827. The Astros hit .259 as a team.
Kyle Tucker had a great regular season with a .284 batting average and 112 runs batted in. During the postseason, Yordan Alvarez has clubbed four home runs, while Jose Abreu has gone deep three times and drove in eight runs.
The Texas Rangers won all three games against the Baltimore Orioles and scored a total of 21 runs. During the regular season, the Rangers were the third-highest-scoring team with 881 runs scored and a .263 batting average.
Texas saw Adolis Garcia blast 39 home runs and drive in 107 runs, while Corey Seager led the team with a .327 average. In the postseason thus far, the Rangers are led by Seager, with his .429 average, two home runs from Garcia, and seven runs batted in from Mitch Garver.
Astros Top Rangers in Game 1
This should be a fun postseason game. Both teams are on fire. In fact, the Rangers have yet to lose in the postseason. The Astros got clipped by the Twins in one of those games. In fact, both teams played well at the end of the regular season as well. Two hot baseball teams are getting together in Game 1.
In the end, we are going to give the nod to the veteran Justin Verlander and his Houston Astros. The Astros win this game and start the series up 1-0. They have been there and done that and are ready to do it again.
Bet the Houston Astros at -144 over the Texas Rangers on Sunday.
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