ALCS Game 3: Home sweet home

Quick bit of housekeeping: Today’s game recap may take a little longer than usual to publish after the final out is recorded. The mid-day start time has thrown a wrench in our plans, but we’ll do our best to have something as soon as possible postgame. Thanks for understanding!

Nobody said beating the Astros would be easy. I personally would have been fine with an 11-0 postseason. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

Today, the big challenge is to defeat Houston’s ace, Gerrit Cole. He’s been ridiculously good this season, and he shoved in the ALDS, but the Yankees’ lineup is a different animal compared to the Rays. That’s true even without Giancarlo Stanton, who sits again today with a quad injury.

Oh, and it’s not like the Yankees have some slouch on the mound opposing Cole and Houston’s offense. Luis Severino gets the nod for Bombers’ first home game of the series. What’s more: the Yankees do very, very well at Yankee Stadium. They went 57-24 at home this year and the Astros know quite well that it’s a difficult place to be the road team.

With that, here are today’s lineups as the Yankees look to take a 2-1 series advantage:

News & Notes

• Even though Stanton isn’t in the lineup, he’s available to pinch hit according to Aaron Boone. He’d probably be on the injured list if it were the regular season.
• This is the first time the Yankees will see Reddick and Maldonado. The latter has essentially become Cole’s personal catcher.
• Later tonight, the Nationals have a chance to complete a sweep of the Cardinals and make the franchise’s first World Series appearance. What a postseason run they’ve had.

It’s a beautiful fall day in New York for some baseball. This one gets underway at 4:08pm in the Bronx on FS1 and WFAN. Enjoy the game!