After the Boston Red Sox secured a place in the AHL championship with a fierce victory over the Yankees in ALDS 'fourth game on Tuesday, they returned to Boston to prepare for a set of seven with the Houston Astros who swept the Cleveland Indians in their first round match.

The Red Sox finished the regular season with a record of 108-54, MLB's best performance, but face a tough draw in the ALCS 2018 against an Astros club that got 103-59 – the second best league – after winning the World Series in 2017

Houston beat Boston in four games in the ALDS last season.

Here is a preview of the series:

To begin

Match 1, Saturday – Justin Verlander (16-9, 2.52) during the season against Chris Sale (12-4, 2.11), 8:09 pm AND

Game 2, Sunday – Gerrit Cole (15-5, 2.88) against David Price (16-7, 3.58), 7:09 pm AND

Thurs 3, Tuesday – Rick Porcello (17-7, 4.28) vs. TBA, 5:09 pm AND

Game 4, Wednesday – TBC vs. TBC, 8:39 pm ET

Game 5 (if nec.), Thursday – to be confirmed vs confirmed, 8:09 pm AND

Game 6 (if nec), Saturday – to come against to be confirmed, time to be determined

Game 7 (if nec.), Sunday – to be confirmed vs confirmed, at 19:39. AND

27 outs

Although these same clubs met at ALDS last year and the Astros won a convincing victory, the 2018 version of their match seems to be a fairer fight after the Red Sox blitz at during the regular season and the victory against the Yankees, who have 100 wins. the divisional series.

For Boston, the series represents his first participation in the LCS since a championship in 2013. Surprisingly, the only retainers of the 2013 playoff training likely to feature in the ALCS are Xander Bogaerts and reliever Brandon Workman.

The Sox managed to finish the Yankees in four games in their ALDS, sparing the prospect Chris Sale the need for a start for the fifth game that would have prevented him from coming out of the first game of this series. The skinny southpaw appeared in relief on Tuesday, dominating the Yankees hitters in a scoreless eighth. He will face Justin Verlander on Saturday in a clash between two of the league's most deserving ace and two pitchers who appeared to be the best finishers in the AL Cy Young Trophy in mid-season – before Sale spends most of the month from August to the disabled. List and Leftist Rays Blake Snell made his way through the conversation.

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The Astros are looking to defend their 2017 title with a similar cast of characters, as well as the notable addition of second-round player Gerrit Cole. The Astros this year showed no sign of the World Series hangover, winning 20 of their first 30 games in the regular season. They had a cold snap around the break from the stars, but scored 21-6 in September to overtake the Athletics and Mariners in a surprisingly competitive division.

Houston quickly eliminated the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS, sweeping the series and surpassing their opponents by 15 points in three games. The Astros hitter beat .327 with 1,037 OPS in the series while their pitchers finished with an ERA of 2.00 and a WHIP of 0.70.

Keep an eye on…

Astros: Carlos Correa. The young star has also shone as ever in the 2017 playoffs, but struggled with her back problems in the regular season and spent the entire month of August on the disabled list in a disappointing campaign that l? has seen the worst of his career finish in virtually every offensive category.

He hit .180 with .517 OPS in 37 regular-season games after returning from the DL, and scored just one shot – his home match 3 circuit – on 10 shots on goal in the ALDS. Correa said this week that he was still feeling intense pain in the area, especially when he was jumping and missing the ball. He intends to continue playing with his injury and the sweep of the Astros Division Series has given him four full days of rest before the ALCS.

The remarkable flexibility of Houston means that it is perhaps better suited than any other club to withstand the potential loss of a player like Correa. Alex Bregman and Marwin Gonzalez replaced Correa during his absence. But the reduced version of Correa marks a potential hole in Houston's typing order.

Near and late

The Red Sox's SLD victory has trivialized some of the concerns over the series. Most worrying, Craig Kimbrel, their closest option for the late innings, gave Aaron Judge a win in his first match. He then almost lost a three point lead in the fourth game. Kimbrel struggled to hit in his Tuesday game. a little help from the Yankees hitters too demanding to escape the ninth inning. Of the various low-profile Sox options for the middle heats, Ryan Brasier was the best in the regular season. Brasier, 31, launched in Japan in 2017, but signed with the Red Sox in March and scored a total of 1.60 points in 34 regular season playoffs after joining the big league club in July.

The Astros have a very different composition than they had last October. Keno Giles was sent to Toronto under an agreement with Roberto Osuna, who was still serving a 75-game suspension for violating the League's domestic violence policy. Osuna and his compatriot Ryan Pressly, the acquisition of July, both performed very well for Houston, reinforcing a late mix that already included converted star Collin McHugh. The depth of the starting rotation of the Astros should continue to help their players in the playoffs, both because their starters tend to work in depth and because those coming out of a rotation, namely Lance McCullers, offer great backup options.

At the end

It's hard to bet against a team that has won 108 games in one of the league's most competitive leagues in the regular season, but the Red Sox are entering the ALCS with too much uncertainty about the motivation of their staff . David Price's post-season struggles have been well documented, although manager Alex Cora said the Sox had identified and corrected an unspecified problem that had been a problem since the end of the regular season. After Kimbrel's fight in the fourth game, the Sox Pen seems easier to beat.

The Red Sox have the best attack baseball, but the strong starting rotation of the Astros should mitigate the damage caused by opponents such as Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez. Houston has no apparent weakness, and its list is deep enough to mitigate the effects.

Prediction: Astros in 6

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