Through 162 games throughout the 2019 Major League Baseball season, you could feel it coming. Each team watching each other from a far but watching each other none the less. One team is trying to continue to build on a dynasty, while the other is seeking revenge from being eliminated from the 2017 American League Championship Series by that same team.

If you haven’t heard by now the 2019 ALCS begins on Saturday as the Houston Astros face the New York Yankees. The winner of this series will advance to take on the winner of the NLCS in the 2019 World Series.

“I think both teams got here, and they earned their way here,” said Astros manager AJ Hinch when asked about the feeling of playing the Yankees again in the ALCS. “I think this is a matchup that a lot of people around baseball expected. And now we are here. Seven-game series, there’s going to be a lot of emotion. This is a rivalry that’s been created over the last few years, and everybody will think back to the 2017 epic seven-game series and expect this to top it. I hope it does. And I hope it’s the same result. I like celebrating at the end of that one.”

Most Astros fans will tell you that they loved the end results of that 2017 season as well. After suffering through multiple 100-loss seasons (2011- 106, 2012 – 107, 2013 – 111), Houston finally turned things around in 2017 by winning 101 regular season games and defeated three historic ball clubs (Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers) to win the World Series. They won a franchise high 107 games this year and will be playing in their third straight ALCS.

The road back to the ALCS has been a bumpy one for the New York Yankees. After losing to the Astros in 2017, they had a very down year in 2018. Even though they won 100 games, it still took a wild card win over the Oakland Athletics just to get them in the ALDS. They would lose to the Boston Red Sox who would go on to win the World Series.

This year they have been through a plethora of injuries throughout the season to some of their big-name stars but was able to win the AL East (first since 2012) by winning 103 games and battled the Astros for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. They swept the Minnesota Twins in the first round of the playoffs and was afforded some much-needed rest before heading to Houston.

“It’s amazing to think about,” Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge said about the injuries the team has suffered through this year. “It’s amazing to think about the injuries and the setbacks that we had all season.

Houston will rely on their big bats and strong pitching to try and put a stop to the Yankees. Coming out of a grueling best-of-five ALDS with the Tampa Bay Rays, who most have deemed has the best pitching staff in baseball, the Astros know what’s ahead of them.

“We have a lot of respect for the Yankees and the season they had,” said Astros outfielder Michael Brantley.