3 Reasons Why The Yankees Will Defeat Astros Ace Dallas Keuchel

Welcome to This Week In Yankees Baseball!

Just get that idea out of your head. Sure, the Yankees stumbled into the playoffs. Yes, they backed into the home stadium advantage. And yes, 20- game winner Dallas Keuchel has eaten up American League batters this year. But Tuesday night will belong to the revitalized, rejuvenated New York Yankees. Mark it down.

So why should we believe in such a swift and dramatic turn around, especially if Keuchel is given the ball? Because the Yankees will have enough offensive success against him to support Masahiro Tanaka and an all hands on deck bullpen. That´s right, they will beat the pitcher who tamed them in the regular season. [related category]

A close look reveals that Keuchel was simply not as successful in September as he was in the season overall. His 20-8 record was diminished to 3-2 in September. His 2.48 ERA jumped to 3.78 in September. He gave up six of his 17 home runs last month.

Perhaps the most important of these is the six home runs he allowed in those five September decisions. Whether it is Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran,  Alex Rodriguez  or someone else, someone is going to go yard against Keuchel. And if a runner or two is on base when that happens, Tanaka, Dellin Betances , Andrew Miller and company will have the support that they need.

With all of the Yankees recent struggles, it is easy to overlook the fact that the Astros have not exactly had a sparkling finish to their season either. They were 11-16 in September. And they were 33-48 in road games this season.

Now, this is not to say that all of the Yankees problems will be solved in one game. But the atmosphere changes quickly with success. Suddenly, they go from a club that has stumbled in the last week of the season to one that has advanced to the next round. They start feeling good about themselves. Hits with runners in scoring position become contagious.

And it all starts Tuesday night.