Has Luis García Earned a Start for the Houston Astros in the ALCS?

Jeremy Peña was the hero for the Houston Astros on Saturday night, as his solo home run ended a six-hour marathon in Game 3 of the ALDS. Luis García, however, deserves nearly as much credit. Without his five innings of scoreless relief work from the 14th inning onwards, Peña might never have had the chance to win the game. 

Indeed, there really is no way to overstate how crucial García's performance was. Preparation is everything for starting pitchers, but García was, essentially, tasked with making a start on the shortest possible notice. He delivered. The righty pitched five innings on just 64 pitches, striking out six and allowing only two hits. 

García joined his teammate Framber Valdez as the only American League pitchers to throw 5+ scoreless innings of postseason baseball out of the bullpen in the twenty-first century. Valdez accomplished the feat in 2020. Before him, the last AL pitcher to have done so was Pedro Martínez in 1999.

Following García's incredible performance in the ALDS, it's fair to wonder if manager Dusty Baker will consider giving him the start in ALCS Game 4. In the Division Series, Baker's plan was to run a three-man rotation, thanks to the extra day of rest in between games. In the Championship Series, however, there will only be one day of rest total between the first four games of the series. If Baker does not want to ask any of his top three starters to perform on short rest, he could give the ball to García instead.

The other options to start Game 4 would be José Urquidy, Christian Javier, or Justin Verlander on short rest. It seems like the Astros prefers to use Javier as a weapon out of the bullpen, and surely he would prefer to keep his ace as well-rested as possible. Urquidy, meanwhile, just hasn't been quite as sharp as García lately.

While Baker might have been mulling over his options before, García made the decision much easier for him on Saturday night. After his dominant relief appearance to clinch the ALDS, Luis García deserves to be rewarded with the Game 4 start in the upcoming series.

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