Chicago White Sox: The Houston Astros are the AL champions

The Chicago White Sox missed the playoffs and were incredibly underwhelming based on their expectations. However, that doesn’t mean that we have to avoid the postseason. This 2022 edition of the fall tournament has been one of the most exciting ones ever.

Earlier in the day, we saw the Philadelphia Phillies win the National League pennant in their 4-1 series win over the San Diego Padres. They awaited the winner of the AL series between the Houston Astros and New York Yankees.

Houston came into Sunday night with a 3-0 series lead so they were looking for the sweep while the Yankees had their backs against the wall.

The game started with a 2-0 lead by the New York Yankees who came out of the gate hot. The Yankees then made it 3-0 and looked like they were going to cruise to their first win of the series.

Getting three runs early with Lance McCullers Jr. on Houston’s mound had to feel good knowing that the Yankees had Nester Cortes. Unfortunately, Cortes left the game early with an injury that changed everything. They left him in too long after he was clearly hurt and the Astros made them pay.

The Houston Astros are a very good team that owns the American League.

In true Astros form, they scored four runs in the top of the third to make it 4-3 Houston. The Yankees tied it and then took the league again over the next few innings by a score of 5-4. As you can guess, the Astros scored two late (7th inning) and the 6-5 win would hold for the Astros.

With the sweep, the Houston Astros are now 7-0 in the postseason. They pose a real threat to the 2005 White Sox of 11-1 when they cruised to the World Series championship. This is a team that comes up with timely hitting to complement dominant pitching.

Now, this Houston team that dominated the regular season with the best record (106-56) in the AL will face the Phillies who snuck in as the last NL wild-card team with a record of 87-75. It should be a very interesting playoff series.

The rookie Jeremy Pena was the NLCS MVP. He is joined by other great stars like Yordon Alvarez, Jose Altuve, and Alex Bregman amongst others who will see stars like Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and Rhys Hoskins of Philly.

With pitchers like Justin Verlander, Lance McCullers Jr, and Cristian Javier, Houston is strong. Philly will feature staters like Aaron Nola and Zach Wheeler so this should be a very fun matchup. Hopefully, the White Sox are watching what made each of these teams successful.

The American League belongs to the Astros for the second year in a row and the fourth time in the last six years. This is the model franchise that the White Sox faces regularly and it would be nice to be like them one day. We’ll see how the World Series goes.