00:00 [MUSIC]
00:04 >> In-state showdown with an American League pennant on the line.
00:08 It's the Astros and the Rangers.
00:11 Houston has home field advantage.
00:13 And why does Houston have home field advantage, Donny?
00:16 The two teams had the same record, 90 and 72.
00:20 But because the Astros won 9 of 13 against Texas throughout the regular season,
00:25 they had the divisional tiebreaker that came down to 162 the final day
00:30 of the MLB regular season.
00:32 The Rangers dropped 3 of 4 in their final weekend set against Seattle.
00:36 Houston swept Arizona, winning that third and
00:39 final game to take the American League West Divisional Championship.
00:43 And because of that, the Astros will host the Rangers and
00:47 the Astros, Donny, in their seventh consecutive ALCS,
00:51 a -158 favorite to get to the World Series.
00:54 Again, that's game number one.
00:56 >> Yes, and I do think we're gonna have a fantastic series there.
01:01 You're talking about prime time performers on both sides there.
01:04 We're not looking at this series saying,
01:05 oh, there's a decided underdog on one side.
01:07 Forget about what the odds even say.
01:09 If you are going to get pitching for the Texas Rangers of what we've already saw
01:13 through the wild card round and the divisional series,
01:15 they're gonna be every bit as good as the Houston Astros here.
01:18 And you can almost argue, Eovaldi is pitching like an ace,
01:21 what we thought he was over the first half of the season.
01:24 You're getting Montgomery at the deadline.
01:25 He is pitching like an ace here.
01:27 And you're piecemealing the rest of it together with a bullpen.
01:30 Cuz when you look at the Houston Astros, it used to be in the past,
01:32 they had four legitimate starters here.
01:34 Now they only have two, and
01:35 it's Verlander gonna take the mound in game number one.
01:38 You need to win game number one,
01:40 because if you can get off there as that 1-0 victory here,
01:43 it'll be interesting to see how the pitching matchups do,
01:45 because we don't have those true front line starters.
01:47 I love Valdez last year.
01:48 Maybe he's not as good as he was last year.
01:50 Christian Javier, who was sensational his last start,
01:53 he didn't pitch all that well this year.
01:54 Maybe a more offensive series that we anticipate,
01:58 than maybe even the Phillies and the Diamondbacks,
02:00 because we know 1-2, 1-2, it's gonna be sensational theater in Philadelphia.
02:04 Let's see what happens here in Texas, Houston, in game number one.
02:07 If you wanna win that series, if you're Texas,
02:09 go beat Verlander in his own building here,
02:12 and you'll be in the pilot's chair.
02:14 (upbeat music)
02:16 (bells chiming)
