Houston faces a familiar foe in the ALDS
ALDS Game 1 Preview: Astros vs. A's
Oct 4, 2020, 8:13 pm
Photo by Jason O. Watson/Getty Images
Astros Michael Brantley
They entered with a losing regular-season record and were underdogs in the ALWC series against the Twins. Yet, the Astros are making their fourth-straight ALDS appearance, and if they win it to advance further, their fourth-straight ALCS. Their opponent: the Oakland A's, who took seven of the ten regular-season games against Houston.
However, as we observed in the ALWC round, regular-season numbers and records do not matter all that much, especially with this series played at an empty Dodger Stadium in the MLB's version of a bubble. Sure, the A's may think they have a mental edge having beaten the Astros so much this year, but when you turn the switch on in a best-of-five playoff series, it's a new ballgame. Here are the facts of Monday's Game 1:
Game Facts
When: Monday October 5th, 3:07 PM Central
Where: Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles, California
TV: TBS
Streaming: Watch TBS App
Pitching Matchup: Lance McCullers Jr. vs. Chris Bassitt
Series: tied 0-0.
Series Schedule
| Date & Time (Central) | Pitching Matchup | Home Team | |
| Game 1 | Mon 10/5, 3:07 PM | Lance McCullers Jr. vs. Chris Bassitt | A's |
| Game 2 | Tue 10/6, 3:37 PM | Framber Valdez vs. Sean Manaea | A's |
| Game 3 | Wed 10/7, 2:35 PM | TBD vs. TBD | Astros |
| Game 4* | Thu 10/8, 2:35 PM | TBD vs. TBD | Astros |
| Game 5* | Fri 10/9, 2:35 PM | TBD vs. TBD | A's |
All games played at Dodger Stadium.
* If necessary
Game Storylines
McCullers Jr. starts things off
After disposing of the Twins in two games, it allows the Astros to start a well-rested Lance McCullers Jr. in Game 1 of the ALDS. His last start was a four-inning tune-up against the Rangers on Saturday, September 26th, a scoreless start while striking out nine, looking very sharp. He faced Oakland once this year, starting the first part of a doubleheader on August 29th.
He went six of the seven innings in that game, earning the win by allowing just two runs (one unearned) as the Astros took that game 4-2. The opposing pitcher in that game? None other than Chris Bassitt, who will be on the mound for Oakland in Game 1. The Astros were able to chase him out of that game in the fourth inning after tagging him with two home runs, one a three-run shot by Kyle Tucker, the other a solo homer by Josh Reddick.
Houston has to stay poised
Yes, there's history between these two teams. The A's will continue to have a beef against the Astros for years to come regarding the sign-stealing scandal that they will view hindered their chances at success in the division. Then there's the incident earlier this season between Ramon Laureano and Alex Cintron that resulted in the all-out brawl between the two teams and eventual suspensions.
The Astros have enough going against them with most of the baseball world outside of Houston hoping for an early exit from the postseason; they can't combine that angst with losing their composure against the A's and expect to play their best baseball. If the A's get something going early in Game 1, or this series, that gives them the reason to chirp at or show up the Astros, or vice versa for that matter, the Astros will do well to shift their focus to the next play on the field to avoid getting caught up in the dramatics. They can then say what they need to say, with national media's approval or not, in the post-game and post-series interviews.
Be sure to check SportsMap after the final out for an in-depth recap of the game, and follow me on Twitter for updates and reactions throughout each playoff game: @ChrisCampise
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They’ll be watching in Canada, not just because of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, though the NBA’s scoring champion and MVP favorite who plays for Oklahoma City surely helps lure in fans who are north of the border.
They’ll be watching from Serbia and Greece, the homelands of Denver star Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo. Alperen Sengun will have them watching Houston games in the middle of the night in Turkey, too. Slovenian fans will be watching Luka Doncic and the Lakers play their playoff opener at 2:30 a.m. Sunday, 5:30 p.m. Saturday in Los Angeles. Fans in Cameroon will be tuned in to see Pascal Siakam and the Indiana Pacers. Defending champion Boston features, among others, Kristaps Porzingis of Latvia and Al Horford of the Dominican Republic.
Once again, the NBA playoffs are setting up to be a showcase for international stars.
In a season where the five statistical champions were from five different countries, an NBA first — Gilgeous-Alexander is Canadian, rebounding champion Domantas Sabonis of Sacramento is from Lithuania, blocked shots champion Victor Wembanyama of San Antonio is from France, steals champion Dyson Daniels of Atlanta is from Australia, and assists champion Trae Young of the Hawks is from the U.S. — the postseason will have plenty of international feel as well. Gilgeous-Alexander is in, while Sabonis and Daniels (along with Young, obviously) could join him if their teams get through the play-in tournament.
“We have a tremendous number of international players in this league,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this season. “It’s roughly 30% of our players representing, at least on opening day, 43 different countries, so there’s much more of a global sense around our teams.”
By the end of the season, it wound up being 44 different countries — at least in terms of countries where players who scored in the NBA this season were born. For the first time in NBA history, players from one country other than the U.S. combined to score more than 15,000 points; Canadian players scored 15,588 this season, led by Gilgeous-Alexander, the first scoring champion from that country.
Gilgeous-Alexander is favored to be MVP this season. It'll be either him or Jokic, which means it'll be a seventh consecutive year with an international MVP for the NBA. Antetokounmpo won twice, then Jokic won three of the next four, with Cameroon-born Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers winning two seasons ago.
“Shai is in the category of you do not stop him,” Toronto coach Darko Rajakovic said after a game between the Raptors and Thunder this season.
In other words, he's like a lot of other international guys now. Nobody truly stops Jokic, Antetokounmpo and Doncic either.
And this season brought another international first: Doncic finished atop the NBA's most popular jersey list, meaning NBAStore.com sold more of his jerseys than they did anyone else's. Sure, that was bolstered by Doncic changing jerseys midseason when he was traded by Dallas to the Los Angeles Lakers, but it still is significant.
The Slovenian star is the first international player to finish atop the most popular jerseys list — and the first player other than Stephen Curry or LeBron James to hold that spot in more than a decade, since soon-to-be-enshrined Basketball Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony did it when he was with New York in 2012-13.
“We’re so small, we have 2 million people. But really, our sport is amazing,” fellow Slovene Ajsa Sivka said when she was drafted by the WNBA's Chicago Sky on Monday night and asked about Doncic and other top Slovenian athletes. “No matter what sport, we have at least someone that’s great in it. I’m just really proud to be Slovenian.”
All this comes at a time where the NBA is more serious than perhaps ever before about growing its international footprint. Last month, FIBA — the sport's international governing body — and the NBA announced a plan to partner on a new European basketball league that has been taking shape for many years. The initial target calls for a 16-team league and it potentially could involve many of the biggest franchise names in Europe, such as Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City.
It was a season where four players topped 2,000 points in the NBA and three of them were international with Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic and Antetokounmpo. Globally, time spent watching NBA League Pass was up 6% over last season. More people watched NBA games in France this season than ever before, even with Wembanyama missing the final two months. NBA-related social media views in Canada this season set records, and league metrics show more fans than ever were watching in the Asia-Pacific region — already a basketball hotbed — as well.
FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis said the numbers — which are clearly being fueled by the continued international growth — suggest the game is very strong right now.
“Looking around the world, and of course here in North America," Zagklis said, "the NBA is most popular and more commercially successful than ever.”