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Preview ALCS? Preview ALDS? It remains to be seen.
What is known about this weekend's series at Fenway Park is that it pits the Astros (87-53), leader of the AL West, to the only major league team with a better record, the Boston Red Sox (97-44).
How good – and we are still talking well – has Boston been in 2018? He had a payout percentage of at least 0.620 per month. (You'll probably remember the 1912 world champions as the only Red Sox team to have achieved this feat.) And it's the only major league team without a four-game losing streak this year.
The Red Sox, who could clinch a playoff spot on Saturday, are in the lead for 111 wins, the highest total since the 2001 Mariners tied MLB's 116 record. a remarkable 9-8 victory over the Braves during which they overcame a 7-1 deficit with six innings of eight innings and re-entered again with a round of the ninth inning.
The Astros caught fire themselves, winning their last five games and 12 of their last 15 games. They are therefore in the lead for 101 wins, which would be the total of last year and fall one of their record of 1998.
Considering that Texans visit the New England Patriots on Sunday, Houstonians can virtually hear Dave Loggins' "Please Come To Boston" 1974 chestnuts. Which makes this September baseball series even more intriguing (Boston) against the No.1 Launcher Staff (Houston).
The Astros are leading the main currencies in ERA (3.08), WHIP (1.09) and strikeouts (1.470). The Red Sox are # 1 in the runs (766), batting average (.268), slugging (.455) and OPS (.793) and the second percentage based on .338, one percentage point behind the Chicago Cubs.
Thanks in large part to the free signing of JD Martinez (aka the guy the Astros eliminated five years ago), Boston filled his lack of power last year, when he hit 168 home runs and fell in the hands of the Astros. four-game series of the American League. The Red Sox are seventh in the majors this year with 182 homers.
Not that the Astros are offensive slosters. They rank fourth (695) and fifth overall (0.760), base percentage (0.329) and slowdown (0.431).
And it's not like Boston could not play. The Red Sox are third in the majors with strikeouts (1,355), fourth in ERA (3.62) and eighth in WHIP (1.24).
It's easy to see how the Astros and Red Sox have shared four games at Minute Maid Park from May 31 to June 3, with the teams being separated by a 19-18 run for Boston.
With the debut of Martinez and Mookie Betts, it would not have been a surprise to think that the three best candidates for the most valuable player in the league, including MVP defender Jose Altuve, would meet again.
But on the way to the Fenway this weekend, something happened that slightly changed this projection. He's called Alex Bregman.
If an Astro has a chance to challenge Martinez or Betts in the MVP race, this is the third base player who currently embodies the word burning.
Bregman has reached the base in 33 consecutive games, the longest consecutive streak of wins in the majors and the longest in the Astro since Lance Berkman scored 37 straight in 2004.
In his last 17 games, Bregman has averaged .446 (29-in-65) with six homers, nine doubles, 17 points, 21 RBIs and a .862 percentage.
For the season, Bregman is cutting 298 / 0.399 / 0.537 with 29 homers, 95 points and 96 RBIs. And he climbed to the top of the majors with 77 more shots (including one of MLB's top 46 doubles) and now ranks fourth in WAR (as measured by FanGraphs) at 7.3.
Martinez, meanwhile, is racing at the Triple Crown. His 115 points earned him a nine-point lead over Khris Davis of Oakland, and his 39 homers score Davis by one. With a batting average of .3353, Martinez is a fraction of a point behind Betts, and he leads the majors in shots (170), deceleration (.641) and total bases (325).
As for Betts? The defensive player on the right leads the majors in WAR (8.5) and batting (.3354) and is second in runs (111), percentage on base (.425) and defensive saved (17, measured by FanGraphs) and eighth stolen bases (27).
Assuming the Astros maintain their lead over the West, at present three games and a half against Oakland, they could not face Boston in the playoffs until the AL championship series (assuming the Red Sox do not beat 9 York Yankees). The fact that the Red Sox are managed by Alex Cora, who was, a year ago, the A. Hinch coach at the Astros Parade for their first world championship.
If there is one thing missing in the three-game Astros-Red Sox set this weekend, they are the respective teams' ace. The next departure of Justin Verlander for the Astros will take place Monday when, for the first time, he will take the mound as a visitor to Detroit.
Chris Sale, who was limited to a start since the beginning of August because of a shoulder problem, may return next week, although there is a chance the Red Sox will use it as opener for one or two runs. action.
But do not worry. There is a reasonable chance that the October brings a Verlander-Sale match (or two). And the stakes of this weekend will be nothing compared to these.
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