The AL will go to game seven in Houston

UPDATED with items from the comments section: The AL will go to game seven in Houston

Verlander looked like vintage 2011 Verlander, when he posted 24 wins, a total which has not been topped since 1990. Severino, on the other hand, couldn't find the plate in the fifth after pitching four great hitless innings.

And the Astros finally produced some offense, although to be fair, they only had eight hits on the way toward seven runs.

The good news for the Astros is that they will be at home for game seven. The bad news is that they have no top-notch pitcher available. Keuchel and Verlander are spent, so a mid-level starter will get thrust into this pressure cooker. The Yankees, in the other hand, will presumably start Sabathia, who already has an impressive win in this series, and a distinguished career that includes 237 wins in the regular season and a 10-5 post-season mark.

If the Astros win (and that is a big "if"), Verlander is the obvious MVP. He has single-handedly kept the 'Stros in the series.

Excellent reader observation from the COMMENTS section:

About Sabathia's distinguished career, I still find his record of leading both leagues in shutouts in the very same year, 2008, one of the most incredible, sure never to be repeated, accomplishments in baseball. True he was tied for the league lead in shutouts in both the American and the National leagues, but no pitcher threw more shutouts in either league than he did that year. Amazing achievement, if admittedly somewhat of a fluke.

Scoop's comments:

That guy was unreal that year. He didn't do much in Cleveland except pitch the two shutouts, but he seemed superhuman in his stint in Milwaukee. To this day he has a lifetime NL ERA of 1.65, given that 2008 was his only appearance in the NL. His Brewer teammates were in awe of him, and universally declared that he was the best team player ever, often taking on a reckless work load despite the fact that he was only there on a short-term lease, and could have hurt his value in free agency with an arm injury. He wanted the ball in every key situation, and he probably would have pitched every day if the manager had let him. He made his last three starts on three days' rest, and won the last two, even going the distance in the last one, as the Brewers edged the Mets by a single game to earn the NL wild card slot. Unfortunately, he had no gas left in the tank for the post-season, and the Brewers had nobody else to pick up the slack. You know the situation is dire when you have to start Jeff Suppan when facing elimination.

(Despite never having played for the Rockies, Suppan has the highest ERA in history among pitchers who have thrown at least 2500 innings, although that's true only because Bobby Witt and Jose Lima never pitched that many innings. Lima is the highest among pitchers with 1500 or more; Witt "leads" among those with 2000 or more.)