The Astros–Yankees rivalry is a Major League Baseball (MLB) American League rivalry played between the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees. Originally an interleague matchup, the rivalry intensified as Houston emerged as World Series contenders following their move to the AL in 2013, in the process facing the Yankees in four postseason matchups.

Background
The Yankees were one of the original American League franchises, and they had just won their 19th World Series title in  when the Astros (originally the Houston Colt .45s) joined the National League in the  season. But while the Yankees remained one of the premier franchises in baseball with eight subsequent World Series titles, the Astros struggled for respectability, with only nine postseason berths and one World Series appearance as a National League team. But since the Astros moved to the American League in , both teams began contending for the pennant in the years since, and along with the Boston Red Sox, the Astros and Yankees were among the AL's winningest teams in the last decade.

As of , the Astros and Yankees played 86 times, 68 of which came in the regular season. The Yankees won 38 regular season games to the Astros' 30 and won eight of nine meetings during Houston's tenure in the National League. However, the Astros won 13 postseason games to the Yankees' five and they have never lost a postseason round. The 2022 series victory by the Astros made them the first team to have beat the Yankees in a postseason series four times.

History

2003–2010: Interleague play
Prior to their first interleague meeting in , the Astros and Yankees met in an exhibition game at the Astrodome, with the Astros winning 2–1. The two teams' first official series was a three-game interleague matchup at the original Yankee Stadium from June 10–12, 2003. While the Yankees won two out of three games, the lone Astros victory was a combined no-hitter the team tossed on June 11, when six Astros pitchers no-hit the Yankees 8–0. The Astros and Yankees met in two subsequent interleague series in  and , with the Yankees sweeping each three-game set.

Both the Astros and Yankees twice came close from meeting in the World Series during Houston's tenure in the NL. In the 1980 postseason, the Astros lost to the Philadelphia Phillies 3–2 in the NLCS, while the Yankees were swept by the Kansas City Royals in the ALCS. Then in the 2004 postseason, the Astros lost in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS, while the Yankees infamously blew a 3–0 lead in losing to the rival Boston Red Sox in the ALCS.

2013–present: Emergence of a rivalry
In 2013, the Astros left the National League Central and moved to the American League West. As a result, the matchup against the Yankees turned into an intraleague series, with both teams facing each other six or seven times per season. This period saw the Astros emerge into a World Series contender led by José Altuve while the Yankees transitioned from the Core Four led by Derek Jeter to the Baby Bombers led by Aaron Judge.

The Astros and Yankees met in the postseason for the first time in the 2015 American League Wild Card Game. The Astros, despite winning 86 games, lost home-field advantage by one game to the Yankees, but behind Dallas Keuchel's seven strikeouts in six shutout innings, and home runs from Colby Rasmus and Carlos Gómez, the Astros won the game 3–0.

It was not until , however, that the rivalry truly ignited. Prior to the season, the Yankees traded away all-star catcher Brian McCann to the Astros, freeing playing time to youngster Gary Sánchez. Both teams benefited from the trade, as Sánchez hit 33 home runs in his rookie season, while McCann became a major veteran presence for the young Astros. Later in the season, both teams acquired top-tier pitchers, with the Astros bringing in Justin Verlander from the Detroit Tigers and the Yankees trading for Oakland Athletics ace Sonny Gray. Both teams eventually reached the postseason, with the Astros winning 101 games while the Yankees finished with 91 wins.

The second postseason meeting took place in the 2017 American League Championship Series, with the Astros winning in seven games. Despite the Yankees' reputation for offensive excellence, which included Judge's then-Major League rookie record 52 home runs, they only mustered three runs in the four games played at Houston's Minute Maid Park, all of which New York lost. The Astros went on to win their first World Series title.

Prior to the  season, both teams engaged in trade talks involving then-Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole. While the Yankees initially emerged as front-runners for Cole, the Pirates ended up trading Cole to the Astros instead, further fueling the rivalry.  Cole would pitch for Houston until the end of the  season, before joining the Yankees as a free agent in . Cole was originally a Yankees draft pick, having been selected with the 28th overall pick in the 2008 draft, but did not sign. Both teams came close to meeting for a second consecutive postseason, but while the Astros defeated the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS, the Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox in the same round.

The third postseason meeting took place in the 2019 American League Championship Series, with both teams entering the playoffs with at least 100 wins in the regular season (Houston won 107 games while New York won 103 games). This series was famous for Game 6 in Houston. With the Astros leading 3–2 in the series and 4–2 in the game, Yankees slugger DJ LeMahieu tied the game with a two-run home run. In the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees called on closer Aroldis Chapman, but after George Springer was walked with two outs, Altuve launched a walk-off two-run home run to win the series for Houston. In doing so, the 2010s marked the first decade since the 1910s that the Yankees failed to reach the World Series, although they reached the playoffs in all but three seasons.

The animosity between the two teams only grew stronger in recent years, especially due to the revelations of the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal, with some believing that the sign stealing cost the Yankees the 2017 pennant; others, meanwhile, cite that the Yankees' poor offensive numbers meant they were likely to lose regardless. Many Yankees and their fans also accused the Astros of cheating during the 2019 ALCS, most notably claiming that Altuve used an electronic buzzer to tell him what pitch Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman was pitching when Altuve hit a walk-off home run to win the series. As a result, on May 4, 2021, when the Astros visited Yankee Stadium for the first time since the scandal broke out, Yankees fans vehemently heckled and taunted the team during batting practice and in the game.

Many believe the rivalry continued to intensify during the 2022 season, particularly after Yankees general manager Brian Cashman blamed the Astros on a lack of postseason success for the Yankees, a comment some saw as hypocritical due to the Yankees having recently become the subject of a sign stealing scandal during the 2015–16 seasons. On June 25, 2022, the Astros again threw a combined no-hitter against the Yankees, this time at the modern Yankee Stadium. Three different Astros pitchers combined to no-hit the Yankees, 3–0. This made Houston the only team since 1958 to throw two no-hitters on the road against the Yankees. The no-hitter was sandwiched by two walk-off victories by the Yankees, both by Aaron Judge. On June 23, the Yankees trailed 3–0 and 6–3, but Judge won the game in the 10th inning on a walk-off single. Three days later, after Astros pitcher José Urquidy carried a no-hitter into the 7th inning, the Yankees rallied to win 6–3 in the 10th on a walk-off home run by Judge. Judge's home run was one of his AL record 62 he would hit that season.

The two teams would meet anew in the 2022 American League Championship Series. Prior to the series, a clip of a group of Yankees fans chanting "We Want Houston" went viral, with the phrase being adopted by the National League champion Philadelphia Phillies as well as the Astros players and fans themselves. The Astros would go on to win the series in a four-game sweep.

Notes

References

Major League Baseball rivalries
New York Yankees
Houston Astros