A monumental clash is set to take place on Tuesday night as the Houston Astros take on the Chicago White Sox on their home field. While the two teams are pretty far off in the standings, their two aces are dealing at an almost identical rate this season. Justin Verlander gets set to take on Dylan Cease in what would be the pitcher's duel of the season and potentially one for the ages.
Both pitchers have absolutely mowed down hitters all season as the two own the only sub-2.00 ERAs in the American League with Verlander clocking in at an absurd 1.85 with Cease not far behind at 1.96.
The Astros ace definitely welcomes the challenge. Verlander spoke out on the opportunity to face off against his biggest threat to the Cy Young award and wants to relish the moment more than anything, via NBC Sports:
“It'll be fun,” Verlander said. “I don't think you get a lot of moments like this, where you get two guys having great years like this that match up. Things have to align, so it's very exciting.”
The matchup was slated to be the first wherein the two ERA leaders in the majors would square off in over a decade up until Sandy Alcantara jumped in between them to drop his ERA at 1.92.
Still, fireworks are destined to go off with Justin Verlander absolutely dealing with an ERA approaching 1.00 in his last eight starts while Dylan Cease hasn't allowed more than one run in his last 14 starts. It'll be interesting to see who gives first – or if neither do as the game gets decided by the bullpens.
It's likely going to be a long night for hitters from both sides, that's for sure.
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