The Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros have won one game each in the American League Championship Series so far.
That means the series is now effectively a best-of-five affair, with three of the games coming in Fenway Park as Boston stole the home-field advantage with Saturday’s victory.
We don’t know which team is going to win, but we do know that both clubs have extraordinarily talented hitters, capable of hitting home runs at any time.
As a result, the rest of the series could be a slugfest with many, many home runs.
That’s good news for fans, as they surely enjoy the long ball.
In the first two games, the Red Sox have hit five round-trippers and the Astros have hit four.
Kike Hernandez Leads The Red Sox’s Homer-Based Attack
Kike Hernandez of the Red Sox has three of the five for his team, with proven sluggers JD Martinez and Rafael Devers hitting the other two.
The Astros’ offensive attack has been more balanced when it comes to homers, as four players have at least one: Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Yuli Gurriel, and Jason Castro.
CARLOS CORREA GO-AHEAD HOME RUN IN GAME 1 OF THE ALCS 🔥
(via @MLB)
pic.twitter.com/ma8e09UloB— Tony Dombrowski (@tonydombrowski) October 16, 2021
But both squads are capable of much more, even though they have both already surpassed the 1.22 homer per team over the 2021 regular season.
The Red Sox have Devers, who hit 36 bombs in 2021, and Martinez, who had 28.
Other players on the roster are perfectly capable of hitting the ball out of the park: Alex Verdugo hit 13 and is capable of much more, shortstop Xander Bogaerts had 23, Hunter Renfroe finished with 31, Kyle Schwarber 32, and Bobby Dalbec 25.
Of course, all of them are headlined by the sudden blend of Joe DiMaggio and Hank Aaron that is Hernandez.
Kike Hernandez with 3 home runs in 2 games! #BOSvsHOU #Postseason #RedSox #MLB #ALCS #kikehernandez
— Sports_Fanatic (@caneo_sports) October 17, 2021
He had 20 in the regular season, but has been the Red Sox’s most productive hitter in the postseason.
Boston hit the 10th-most homers among all 30 teams during the regular season, with 219.
The Astros, meanwhile, had the ninth-most with 221.
They were also the best offense in the league by wRC+, with 116.
The Astros Have The Best Offense In MLB
The wRC+ stat means weighted Runs Created Plus, a measure that allows us to determine if a team is above or below-average offensive, with 100 being considered average.
That 116 wRC+ mark was tops in MLB, even above the explosive Toronto Blue Jays.
The Astros lineup has no weak spots other than catcher.
Altuve (31), Correa (25), Yordan Alvarez (33) and Kyle Tucker (29) all eclipsed the 25-homer mark in 2021.
Additionally, the team has hitters with extra thump, too, in Michael Brantley, Alex Bregman, Chas McCormick, and Aledmys Diaz.
Minute Maid Park, the house of the Astros, and Fenway Park, where Boston plays, are both considered above-average parks for home runs and were ninth and 13th in total blasts this year, so the venues also help.
Another thing leading us to believe that the rest of the series will be a slugfest full of home runs is that while both pitching staffs are good, they are not quite elite.
Framber Valdez and Chris Sale, perhaps the squads’ top pitchers, haven’t been as sharp as expected, and even Nathan Eovaldi has been scored upon.
Boston’s 4.27 ERA in the regular season ranks 15th.
All things considered, the Red Sox – Astros matchup is set up perfectly to be a home run derby.
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