Bad blood: Looking at the fiery rivalry between Houston Astros and New York Yankees
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" might as well be the walk-up song for every batter stepping to the plate during this American League Championship series between the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees.
Anyone who has been following these ball clubs for at least the last six years knows they have a history.
The Astros eliminated the Yankees from the postseason in 2015, 2017 and 2019. In 2015, Houston topped New York in the American League Wild Card game.
2017 and 2019 were both championship series where the Astros knocked out the Yankees to advance to the World Series. In 2019, Houston beat the Yankees in the ALCS when Astros second baseman Jose Altuve hit a bottom-of-the-ninth home run off Aroldis Chapman in Game 6.
Of course, 2017 is also the year that the Astros were embroiled in a sign-stealing scheme that came to light three years later. It's a grudge that the Yankees' Aaron Judge (and some fans) has yet to ease a grip on.
After the scandal was uncovered, Judge said of the Astros' title, "You cheated and you didn't earn it." He added that Houston should vacate the title and that players should have been punished.
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The anger echoed around the league with National League MVP Cody Bellinger at the time accusing Altuve of stealing the American League MVP award from Judge in 2017.
While the MLB found no evidence of sign-stealing in the Astros' 2019 season, Houston has had a hard time staving off the stench, despite their repeated winning seasons.
In 2021, when Altuve returned to Yankee Stadium for the first time, the "boo birds" were in full force.
Getting booed is nothing unique for the Astros, though. Even Carlos Correa was booed by Dodgers fans back in August, and he's no longer with Houston.
Still, Houston has had the Yankees' number, knowing just how to dial up home runs.
Houston's seven regular season contests with the Bronx Bombers were must-see and, for at least one of those games, historic.
Who can forget Houston's combined no-hitter thrown at Yankee Stadium on June 25?
Or their one-day, two-game series at Minute Maid Park back in July, where the Astros nabbed a walk-off win over the Yankees in Game 1 and beat them in Game 2 to sweep the doubleheader.
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The Bayou City learned on Tuesday that it would play host to the Bronx Bombers after a winner-takes-all Game 5 between the Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians.
New York and Cleveland had to wait a day to due to a rain delay on Monday night.
The ALCS is a best-of-seven series, and the Astros would play four of those games at Minute Maid Park should it go the distance.
That's because the Astros have a better regular season record than the Yankees.
ALCS tickets are still available.
We'll see how this latest chapter in the Astros-Yankees history book plays out.
The Associated Press and ESPN contributed to this report.
