Why NBC analyst Anthony Rizzo is bullish on the Houston Astros as MLB playoffs begin

NBC analyst Anthony Rizzo says the Astros are built for short series like the one against the White Sox in the wild-card round. (Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images) It would be easy to underestimate the Houston Astros as the MLB playoffs begin.

>After all, the Astros just made an ignominious bit of MLB history as the first playoff team in a full season to not have a winning record. They finished 81-81, which was good enough to win a middling AL West over the Texas Rangers.

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>But doubt them at your own peril. That was the crux of the message from NBC studio analyst Anthony Rizzo during a conference call Monday to promote the network's coverage of the wild-card round. The Astros begin a best-of-3 series against the Chicago White Sox at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Daikin Park.

>"For me, I feel like they get in (and) they have experience, right?" said Rizzo, a 2016 World Series winner with the Chicago Cubs. "Jose Altuve has been a White Sox killer his entire career, it seems like. They have Yordan (Alvarez), who's probably going to win the American League MVP. They have a legitimate back-end bullpen that limits the game to pretty much six innings, probably five innings in short series because they can extend these guys. and go to them a lot sooner."

>Recent playoff history shows several wild-card teams have gone far. The 2019 Nationals won the World Series (against the Astros). So did the 2023 Rangers, who beat another-wild card team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, in the Fall Classic. The Philadelphia Phillies, whom the Astros beat to win it all in 2022, were the National League's No. 6 seed.

>"So the scary part about these teams is they're built for these short series," Rizzo said of this year's field. "The Houston Astros are built for a three-game series. They're built for a five-game series. They may get tested in a seven-game series, but when you when you can win a series and you can get real momentum, that's everything in October because these teams that are sitting out for five days, they lose a little bit momentum, especially in the American League (where) they're going to be playing two games in a week. So you can build real momentum in these wild-card games and ride that to a deep October run, I believe."

>The Astros don't have many players remaining from their 2022 championship squad but the likes of Altuve, Alvarez and shortstop Jeremy Peña, the ALCS and World Series MVP as a rookie, have valuable postseason experience a young opponent like the White Sox lack.

>"Houston has that, they have the veterans," Rizzo said. "They've won before. they're battle tested. There's young guys on that team that can rely heavily on the veterans, too."

>When asked for an X-factor for the Astros, Rizzo singled out closer Josh Hader, who was 26-for-26 in save chances this season.

>"They hand the ball to him with a lead. the game's over," Rizzo said. "That's a good feeling. I've never managed but I have to imagine it's a good feeling as a manager."

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