PLENTY TO PLAY FOR
3 important factors to watch for as Astros take on Braves in World Series rematch
Aug 19, 2022, 1:33 pm
The Astros are headed back to Atlanta. Photo by Elsa/Getty Images.
Astros stave off elimination with World Series Game 5 win over Braves
In most sports, when the calendar provides a rematch of the two teams that squared off against each other for the championship in the previous season, you circle those dates. This weekend's matchup between the Astros and Braves in Atlanta is one of those times.
Typically, these types of rematches give both teams something to rise to the occasion; there's a revenge factor for the team that came up short the previous year, while the defending champions can show that they're still the team to beat. When the 2022 schedule was initially released, there was no guarantee that the three-game series kicking off Friday night would be one featuring two of the league's best teams.
Luckily for us, it is a playoff-caliber set of games, with the Houston sitting on top of the AL at 77-43 while the Braves sit third in the NL at 73-47 behind the 76-43 Mets and the league's best 81-36 Dodgers. Both teams are virtually guaranteed to be in the 2022 postseason at this point, but there's still plenty to prove.
Is McCullers Jr. all the way back?
"Having him come back now, might ensure that you're going to get the best part of him in October."
Lance McCullers Jr. was looking a lot like himself in his 2022 season debut this past weekend. 👀#MLBCentral | #LevelUp | @markdero7 | @LaurenShehadi | @RoFlo pic.twitter.com/taqEr699lL
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) August 15, 2022
In the series opener, we'll get an intriguing pitching battle when the Astros send Lance McCullers Jr. to the mound opposite Kyle Wright, who is 14-5 with a 3.14 ERA. Both of these teams are benefitting from solid pitching this season, with Houston's second-best team ERA of 3.05 and Atlanta's sixth-best 3.61.
McCullers made his 2022 debut on August 13th, and it was a good one. He made it through six shutout innings against the A's on just 81 pitches, nabbing his first win of the year as Houston would go on to win 8-0. While quality starts, especially shutouts, are never easy in the MLB, there is a big difference between the 41-73 A's and this Braves team.
One thing that could have bitten him in that first start was walks. He issued four over the six-inning outing, with some timely double plays helping erase them. He otherwise looked sharp, getting five strikeouts and allowing just two hits. If he can make the next step in his progression to complete form, replicating the success of his first start against a more potent offense, that will be a huge confidence boost for the rest of the season.
Are the bats finally peaking?
In the recent six-game homestand against the Rangers and A's, the Astros put up 39 runs, averaging 6.5 per game. Three low-scoring affairs followed that against the White Sox, where they managed just eight and dropped two of those three to Chicago. Then the lineup exploded in the series finale, demolishing the ball en route to a 21-5 clubbing to hang their hats on heading into this weekend.
As I've mentioned earlier this season, with Houston's pitching being mostly consistent with their strong performance, the offense has been the deciding factor in games more often than not. One key component of the top of Houston's order is Alex Bregman, who is having a hot August so far.
That's one way to keep him off 2nd. pic.twitter.com/ApJCUyj6Ba
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 18, 2022
Bregman's first half of the season was not up to his typical standards, finishing with a .238 average, 11 homers, and .764 OPS. That has quickly turned around in July and August, where he's slashing .343/.404/.667 and an impressive 1.070 OPS. So far this month, he has the third-best average in the league, is tied for the most RBI, and has the second-best OPS with 1.246 behind Paul Goldschmidt's 1.276.
While the rest of the lineup got in on the action in the blowout win in Chicago, Bregman was the most impressive, getting two homers and driving in six runs. If he can maintain this surge the rest of the way and be the spark for Houston's lineup, they could enter the postseason as one of the most well-rounded teams, which remains necessary for playoff success.
An exciting weekend in store
After the opener on Friday night with McCullers Jr. vs. Wright, the two teams will take to primetime on Saturday night as they'll play on FOX. That game will have Cristian Javier (7-8, 2.96 ERA) facing off with Spencer Strider (7-4, 3.04 ERA) at 6:15 PM Central. Then, the series finale will be at 12:35 PM on Sunday with the pitching matchup of Jose Urquidy (11-4, 3.69 ERA) and former Astro Charlie Morton (6-5, 4.04 ERA).
A World Series rematch. A potential preview of this year's as well. It'll be fun to watch and shapes up to be one of the final premier matchups the Astros have as we near the last month of regular-season play.
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Jan 17, 2025, 3:11 pm
When DeMeco Ryans became coach of the Houston Texans before last season, the two-time Pro Bowl linebacker brought his swarm defense with him.
It’s an identity the Texans have embraced as they prepare for their second straight trip to the divisional round of the playoffs Saturday where they’ll face the Kansas City Chiefs.
“You really can’t go out there if you’re not about it,” Ryans said.
And while every member of the defense has bought into Ryans’ aggressive style, there is one player who epitomizes it like no one else.
“Will every time,” cornerback Derek Stingley said of defensive end Will Anderson Jr.
Anderson, last year’s AP Defensive Rookie of the Year, has taken his game to another level this season and had 1½ sacks last week after piling up 11 in the regular season.
He described what playing swarm defense means to him.
“Do whatever it takes to get the ball, attacking the ball,” Anderson said. “We’ve got this saying in our D-line room; ‘who gonna pop it off?’ Whoever pops it off first, that’s swarming. Like who’s gonna make the big play? And I feel like there’s a lot of guys on defense that pop it off, who swarm.”
The Texans intercepted Justin Herbert a career-high four times, including one which was returned for a score, in last week’s win over the Chargers after he had been picked off just three times all season. Houston’s four takeaways in the first week of the playoffs are tied with Philadelphia for most in the NFL.
That performance came after Houston ranked fifth in the league in the regular season by forcing 29 turnovers.
Stingley, who had two of the interceptions last week a day after earning AP All-Pro honors, shared his mindset on the team’s defensive mentality.
“It really just comes down to if I was to tell you this is the last time you’re gonna do something, how you gonna do it,” Stingley said. “It’s simple as that. Just do that every single play.”
Ryans said there’s really no secret to why his team has such a knack for forcing turnovers. He believes it’s because he has good players, and they emphasize it in practice which translates to games.
“That’s our main thing that we go into every week is talking about attacking the football, taking the football,” Ryans said. “Because we know, when you take the football away, it just raises your percentages of winning the football games… it’s the defense helping the team win the game.”
While all of Houston’s takeaways last week came on interceptions, Stingley was quick to point out that those picks wouldn’t have happened if not for the pressure the defensive line put on Herbert. The Texans sacked him four times and hit him another nine in the 32-12 victory.
“The defense starts with them up front,” Stingley said. “They’re doing their job and it just makes it easier for us on the back end.”
Anderson said with each turnover, the defense got more and more amped up and was pushing each other to see who the next player would be to force one.
“That’s just that swarm mentality and we just feeding off each other,” Anderson said. “This person can’t do it by themselves so who is gonna be next and that just generates that contagious energy.”
The Texans were the fifth team since 1963 to have at least four sacks, four interceptions and an interception return for a touchdown in a playoff game last week. The past three teams to do it all went on to win the Super Bowl, with Tampa Bay doing so in the 2002 season, Baltimore in 2000 and San Francisco in 1989.
This Texans team would love to keep that going. But first they’ll need a win Saturday to put them in the AFC championship game for the first time after losing their previous five divisional matchups.
“That’s what you come here for,” Anderson said. “That’s what they’ve been rebuilding for is moments like this… we’ve got all the right pieces, we’ve just got to go out there and make it happen.”