McAdam: Yankees were a tough postseason opponent, but Astros on another level

The Red Sox' recent American League Division Series conquest of the Yankees got all the attention, thanks to the rivalry between the teams -- to say nothing of the cities involved.

Turns out, however, that was merely the appetizer for the Red Sox' attempt to win their fourth World Series this century.

Both in terms of what's at stake and quality of opponent, the Red Sox date with the Houston Astros in the American League Championship will be both more entertaining and challenging.

For all the hype, aided by the drama of the ninth inning in the concluding game of the ALDS, two of the games in Yankees' series were rather lopsided, with one game decided by 15 runs. Perhaps the games couldn't possibly meet expectations, especially with the attention garnered for the first playoff meeting between the teams in 14 years.

For much of the season, a Red Sox-Astros confrontation had the feel of inevitability to it. After all, this pits the best team from the 2018 regular season against the defending champions from 2017.

What better matchup to determine who represents the American League in the World Series?

The Red Sox won 13 more games this year than last, but the best measuring stick of how far they've come from a year ago will be found in how they fare against the Astros over the next 10 days.

In seven meetings during the regular season, the Astros owned a 4-3 edge, with four of the game decided by two runs or fewer.

Now comes the real test.

Last year, the Red Sox were badly outclassed in the ALDS, eliminated in four games. Chris Sale, making his playoff debut, gave up two homers in the first inning of Game 1 -- and it was downhill, quickly, from there. The starters couldn't keep the Sox in games and the power-challenged lineup proved incapable of catching after falling behind in the early innings.

This year's edition is more well-rounded, with a mightier lineup anchored by J.D. Martinez, who gives the Red Sox the middle-of-the-order difference they lacked after David Ortiz retired.

But if the Red Sox thought the Yankees were a handful -- and they were -- they're about to draw a far more formidable opponent.

The Astros won 103 games -- second in baseball to the Red Sox' 108 -- and that number surely would have been greater had the team not dealt with injuries to its masterful double play combination (Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve).

The rotation, already superb, benefitted from the year-long presence of Justin Verlander and the addition of Gerrit Cole, each of whom will start this weekend at Fenway.

By every statistical measure, the Astros are elite. Though the Astros were only fifth in runs scored in the American League, their pitching was nearly historic. Houston's 3.11 ERA was tops in the AL and they allowed more than a hundred fewer runs than the next closest team in the AL. Opponents hit a mere .217 against the Houston staff during the regular season.

Moreover, the Astros' staff dominated with power, recording an MLB-leading 1.687 strikeouts. Only one team -- the Yankees -- had more than 1,600 (1,634). And, at a time when teams rely more on their bullpens than ever before, the Astros got 955.1 innings from their starters, a figure topped only by Cleveland. And, in sweeping the Indians out of the Division Series, the Astros handily outscored Cleveland by a margin of better than 3-to-1 (21-6).

There's nothing that the Astros don't do well: they put the ball in play (second-fewest strikeout in the AL), convert balls in play into outs (fewest errors in the league) and get on-base (fourth in OBP). And the back end of the Houston bullpen, a notable weakness even as they were forced to convert extra starters to late-inning relievers to win the World Series last fall, has been improved by the acquisition of closer Roberto Osuna.

A significant difference this year for the Red Sox is that they have home field advantage. But even that edge comes with a caveat: while the Red Sox owned the best home record (57-24) in the game, that's somewhat canceled out by the fact the Astros had the same superb record ... on the road.

"They're good, man,'' said Xander Bogaerts. "They're a good team. They've been here before and they won last year. But we have a good group to go real deep into the postseason. I think (our confidence) is higher than it's ever been.''

It will need to be to get past Houston.