Astros made it clear who was the best baseball team

HOUSTON – While the national anthem was played at Minute Maid Park on Friday, stars and stripes unfolded in the center of the field.

The entire inner field was covered with an orange flag with the Astros logo and these words: Never Settle.

This is the 2018 slogan for the reigning World Series champions. The Astros again showed on Friday that the best baseball team still resided in the heart of Texas as they forced Cleveland's Corey Kluber and the 7-2 Indians to take a 1-0 lead in l & # 39; ALDS.

Yes, we know the Yankees winning the 100 wins and the Red Sox with 108 wins, but the talented, deep and motivated Astros, with 103 victories, are on a mission to become the first consecutive champion since the Yankees won three a line from 1998-2000.

The champions covered everything – pitchers, sluggers and scorers, and they beat the Indians, 12-3, by scoring four homers at home.

The unparalleled Justin Verlander did not allow a hit in the first five innings when he started 5¹ / ₃, allowing two points and only two shots when he pulled out seven. The reconstructed Houston office recovered the rest of the outs.

Verlander, 35, entered the day with a life of 4.71 against 6 Tribes against the Tribe, but the playoffs are very different and no one can focus on the laser as the right-handed man.

"I have always enjoyed the moment," said Verlander, a true starter in this era of openness. "Today is how we establish a team victory."

Alex Bregman started the fourth quarter, scoring a terrible shot on Kluber's Crawford Box for the first leg of the match. He got into the series and said it was Astros' mission: "One of the benefits of winning the World Series last year is getting us to win another one."

Effectively.

"It's an explosion, that's really what it's all about," Bregman said. "Winning the first match is huge. The Indians are a tough team and they will not back down. We must integrate this type of energy, this type of competitiveness in every game of this series.

"Earlier in the year, they said our offense was not a snap and everyone was not. Today, from one to nine years old, it was a quality match and we are really tough. "

Bregman has five home playoff circuits against Chris Sale (two), Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen and Kluber. Quite the list.

Manager noted A.J. Hinch about Bregman: "He has a calm heart rate and this has been proven in the fast career he has had so far. I like how he describes the pressure. He describes pressure as a privilege. For me, this shows someone who will be able to handle the moment. "

In the fifth, George Springer and Jose Altuve crashed to the left. This marked the fifth consecutive playoff game in which Springer dominated, making him the third major player to accomplish this feat. Carlos Beltran did it in 2004, and then there was Daniel Murphy's Mets Magic Run in 2015 when he hit six playoff circuits.

Kluber had speed problems, but Verlander hit 98 on the radar gun and dropped a couple of curved bullets at 79 mph on the hitters.

Astros receiver Martin Maldonado added a final solo shot seventh. Houston beat 15 home runs in the World Series against the Dodgers, four against the Yankees in the ALCS and eight in the ALDS win against the Red Sox last year.

Play only 31 homers in Houston's last 19 games in the playoffs.

On Saturday, the Astros cast As II Gerrit Cole (15-5, 2.88) against Carlos Carrasco (17-10, 3.36).

"Cole is hungry," Bregman said of Astro's first year. "We also have other guys on the list, [reliever Ryan] Pressly. These guys really want to win very badly, and they know they are very happy to wear the Houston Astros uniform because they feel like they have a very good chance of winning their first world series. "

The Astros were the best baseball team last year and the situation is the same this year.