Astros in; Yankees out

Astros in; Yankees out

The 'Stros only got five hits in the game, but two of them cleared the fence. Meanwhile, the Yankees could muster only three singles and two walks, with nobody crossing the plate.

Astros starter and 20-game winner Dallas Keuchel threw 21 innings against the Yankees this year and never allowed a run.

Having nothing to do with this game, the AL Cy Young award is expected to go to Keuchel or David Price. Keuchel led the league in wins and barely lost the ERA crown to Price by 0.03.

The NL race has three strong contenders. Zack Greinke essentially won the triple crown: ERA, WHIP and W-L percentage, but may still lose to Jake Arrieta, who finished his 22-win season with the best two months in baseball history: 11-0 with a 0.41 ERA. The Cubs won Arrieta's last 13 stars.

Arrieta may have had a slightly better season than Greinke. Arrieta was only slightly worse than Greinke in WHIP and ERA, and Greinke's 19-3 record was deceptive. The Dodgers were actually 23-9 in Greinke's starts, while the Cubs were 25-8 with Arrieta on the mound.

To complete the Big Three, let it be known that the Dodgers were 20-13 when Kershaw started, and that's with a 7-1 finish, so they started with a mediocre 13-12. Outside the friendly confines of Dodger Stadium, Kershaw was only 5-4 (Greinke was 10-1 at home, 9-2 on the road). Despite those unimpressive statistics I just cited, Kershaw had a season about as good as any of his Cy Young years, although I would certainly place him third this year.