The Houston Astros finished off the series against the Boston Red Sox on Monday, winning by a margin of three games to one. The series loss surely helped in part for former Red Sox manager John Farrell to be fired on Wednesday.
Trailing two games to none, the New York Yankees followed up with Game 3 and 4 wins over the Cleveland Indians, before finishing off the improbable comeback with a 5-2 victory in Game 5 on Wednesday.
Here are the most valuable and least valuable player from both of the American League Division Series.
MVP - Jose Altuve, Astros
The player who may go on to win American League MVP for the regular season was the Astros most valuable player as well in their American League Division Series win over the Red Sox. The diminutive second baseman went 8-for-15 (.533) in the four games with four walks. Altuve hit three home runs, had four RBIs, and scored five runs. He set the stage early for Houston, hitting all three of his homers in their 8-2 Game 1 win. He followed that up with multi-hit efforts in the following two games as well.
LVP - Chris Sale, Red Sox
An All-Star each of the last six seasons, Sale finally made his postseason debut in Game 1. Much like Altuve, he set the stage early but in a negative way for Boston.
He gave up nine hits, a walk, and seven runs in just five innings during their Game 1 loss. He had a chance to redeem himself as he came out of the bullpen in Game 4, but took his second loss of the series. He gave up four hits and two runs in 4 2/3 innings of work.Combine, Sale gave up four home runs in his 9 2/3 innings of work.
MVP - Didi Gregorius, Yankees
Gregorius entered Wednesday's Game 5 just 1-for-13 over the course of the first four games against the Indians. The average wasn't good, but he still walked six times in Games 1-4. Game 5 is clearly what gives Gregorius the MVP of the series, though, after he hit first- and third-inning home runs off Corey Kluber that gave the Yankees the early 3-0 lead.
New York never looked back and finished off their comeback series win after trailing two games to none.
LVP - Corey Kluber, Indians
There are a few players that can go here, including Francisco Lindor, who went 2-for-18 and Jose Ramirez who went 2-for-20. After Kluber's dominant regular season where he led the American League in both ERA and WHIP, he has to get the nod for his two extremely disappointing starts. They both resulted in him picking up the loss. In Game 2, Kluber's start was a disaster as he went just 2 2/3 innings and gave up seven hits, a walk, and six runs. He at least lasted one inning longer in Wednesday's pivotal Game 5. In 3 2/3 innings, he gave up three hits, two walks, and three runs.
