The Chicago White Sox and the Houston Astros will kick off their best-of-five American League Division Series on Thursday at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. The winner will advance to the AL Championship Series, where they’ll play for a chance to win the pennant and represent the league in this fall’s World Series.
The Astros, the West champions and the No. 2 seed in the AL, have played in four consecutive Championship Series. The White Sox, for their part, just won their first AL Central crown since 2008.
On paper, the Astros would appear to be the favorites. They finished the regular season with a significantly better run differential despite playing a tougher schedule. Anything can happen over the course of a five-game series, however, so it wouldn’t be smart to write off the possibility that the White Sox advance past the divisional round for the first time since 2005 — Chicago, of course, won the World Series that fall.
Below, you’ll find all you need to know about the ALDS — the dates and times of each game, as well as the probables and the television carriers.
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Game 1 – Thu., Oct. 7 |
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Game 2 – Fri., Oct. 8 |
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Game 3 – Sun., Oct 9 |
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Game 4 – Mon, Oct. 10* |
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Game 5 – Wed., Oct. 11* |
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The Astros finished the regular season with the most potent offense in the majors, as determined by FanGraphs’ wRC+ measure. (wRC+ is an advanced metric that adjusts for ballpark, among other variables.) Houston had the lowest strikeout rate in the majors despite boasting a healthy walk rate and a top-10 isolated slugging. The White Sox also have a good offense, albeit not quite to the Astros’ level.
Pitching-wise, the two sides finished with an almost identical rotation ERA. Those marks aren’t representative of their current staffs, though, given a few factors. For instance, Zack Greinke and Dallas Keuchel are expected to pitch out of the bullpen, and it’s unclear how Carlos Rodón will hold up in light of a massive innings bump. The White Sox hold the advantage in bullpen ERA.
It should be noted that the Astros went 5-2 against the White Sox during the regular season, outscoring the Pale Hose by 12 runs. The Astros swept the White Sox in their first four-game set of the season, but the White Sox achieved some revenge by taking two of their three games against the Astros in July.
