The Yankees had come so far, but in the end they finished miles away from the franchises intended goal. When this Yankees team accelerated its development by upsetting Cleveland and then coming back from 2-0 down to take a 3-2 lead against high-hopping Houston in the American League Division Championship, visions of a 28th World Series title danced in the heads of Bronx Bomber fans.
All Joe Girardis team had to do was win one game in Houston against the favored Astros. The Dodgers were waiting in the cut, ready to make ratings magic against the Yankees in a dream World Series, but it didn’t happen. The networks are crying today, but the city of Houston is celebrating and anticipating the franchise’s first return the Fall Classic since it lost to Chi-Town’s White Sox in 2005.
Unheralded Charlie Morton took the mound against Yankees legend CC Sabathia and Morton avenged an earlier poor performance by being at the top of his game when the Astros franchise needed it the most. Morton and Lance McCullers Jr. combined to shut the Yankees out and stifle the power squad that led baseball in homers, winning Game 7 of the ALCS by a score of 4-0.
‘It means everything’: Fans ecstatic after Astros punch ticket to World Series
Fans are ecstatic outside of Minute Maid Park moments after the Astros beat the Yankees in Game 7 of the ALCS and as the team is now onto the World Series.
Justin Verlander silenced the mighty Yankees offense in Game 6 and then Houston struck first blood in Game 7 when Evan Gattis broke a scoreless game open with his first World Series homer, the biggest of his career. Then the three-time AL batting champion Jose Altuve stroked one later in the game.
SI MLB on Twitter
SEE YA! Evan Gattis crushes a homer to left field to give the Astros a 1-0 lead in the fourth https://t.co/H5WEnfGxTh
It was obvious that Sabathia didnt have his best stuff. He walked a tightrope for the first four innings before Gattis bomb broke the ice, garnered Houston the momentum put enormous pressures on the Yankees to do the impossible.
Twitter Moments on Twitter
The Astros knock CC Sabathia out of the game in the fourth inning as they strike first in #Game7 of the ALCS. https://t.co/bV1NlZr3e7
All that we can ask as baseball fans is that the playoff games are exciting, close, emotional and full of major moments. The ball bounces how its going to bounce. Only one team can capture the ultimate prize. Legitimate contenders, pretenders and Cinderella squads all eventually fall by the waist side and one fortunate, impenetrable franchise rises to glory.
Unfortunately, for the gladiators who exist in the actual trenches of a game transmitted to millions via television, the playoffs render the regular season irrelevant once it gets into full swing. One bad playoff loss can erase a career of winning as it has done for Dusty Baker on several occasions with several teams, including his recent firing as Washington Nationals skipper after he led them to another division title. The Nationals are one of a handful of squads that felt that they were entitled to a World Series ring.
Now, we will see if the Yankees improbable playoff run and embarrassing losses in Games 6 and 7 will be enough to get Giardi — a manager who has had a winning record for a decade straight and has been to two World Series during that time — will be the next victim of the playoff pushout.
Baseball is a game of inches and the victor is decided when those inches swing in one teams favor and leaves the other torturously pondering the “what ifs” until the winds of March roll in again, setting the stage for another 162-season run and a shot at glory.
