The key storylines for today's ALCS, NLCS games

After a couple of days of only one League Championship Series being played, we are back to doubleheaders throughout the weekend. In fact, as long as the Yankees don’t get swept -- and we don’t really think the Yankees are getting swept, do we? -- we’ll have two games a day at least through Monday. Enjoy this: When one of these series ends, we won’t have multiple games in a day again until April 1, 2023.

So here are the biggest storylines for each team, in each game, for Saturday.

Astros at Yankees (Astros lead 2-0)
Cristian Javier vs. Gerrit Cole
5:07 p.m. ET, TBS

Astros: Can they finish off the Yankees right here and now?
The Yankees will not be eliminated if they lose Saturday and fall behind 3-0 in this series. Heck, if anyone knows how a series isn’t over when you’re down 3-0, it’s the Yankees. But let’s not kid ourselves here. If the Yankees lose Game 3, at home, with Gerrit Cole on the mound, this thing is over. The Astros know it. The Yankees know it. Every human at Yankee Stadium will know it. So if the Astros want to take this series by the lapels, they can do it right now. Cole has been excellent in his first two postseason starts -- he won two of the three ALDS games for New York -- but the Astros have the sort of lineup that can wear him down enough to get to that Yankees 'pen … and they have the sort of pitching that can match up with him, anyway. The Astros have seemed in firm control of this series from its beginning, really. They can make that official with a Game 3 win.

Yankees: Will the stadium they love so much save them?
It was a little strange, to be honest, to see so many Yankees grousing about the fly ball that Aaron Judge hit in Game 2 that didn’t leave Minute Maid Park, but would have left Yankee Stadium. First off, uh, they weren’t playing at Yankee Stadium, they were playing in Minute Maid Park; if the Yankees wanted to play Game 2 in The Bronx rather than Houston, they should have won more games than the Astros. Also: That would have been a home run at Yankee Stadium and Yankee Stadium only. Complaining that only your stadium is weird enough to have a relatively routine fly ball be a homer is … strange.

Either way
The Yankees are back home now, so they better take advantage of it. The Yankees tied with the Dodgers for the best home record in baseball this year, and now they have to win two of three against the team with the best record in the American League -- a team that has smoked them twice now -- just to keep their season alive. It’s all lined up for them: Big crowd that, uh, doesn’t like the Astros, Cole on the mound, normal fly balls that will now leave the park, apparently. So there aren’t any more excuses to be made.

Padres at Phillies (Phillies lead 2-1)
Mike Clevinger vs. Bailey Falter
7:45 p.m. ET, FOX

Padres: Can they take advantage of a tired bullpen?
Did Jurickson Profar swing? Whatever your thoughts on that disagreement, it’s fair to say that the Padres are probably a little bit sore in the wake of that Game 3 loss. But: Other than, you know, the loss, this series isn’t entirely off plan.

After all, Phils starter Ranger Suárez went only five innings, and getting into the Phillies bullpen is a large part of the whole plan for the Padres. Sure, it, didn’t work on Friday: The Phils -- again, the team whose bullpen is supposed to be the big weakness -- threw four scoreless innings to hang onto their lead and earn the win. But the problem for the Phils now is that there are no days off the remainder of this series: Seriously, none. (That’s a super-long flight from Philly to San Diego on Sunday evening.) You probably shouldn’t count on Zach Eflin, José Alvarado and Seranthony Domínguez to throw four scoreless innings every night, and you certainly can’t count on them to do that Saturday or Sunday: Domínguez threw 34 pitches, the second most he threw all year.

The Padres should be able to wear Falter down. And there isn’t much behind him. The Padres lost on Friday. But if they were going to lose, wearing down the Phils’ top three relievers in a losing effort was the best way to do it.

Phillies: Can this crowd will them to another win?
Both of these fanbases have waited so long to get back to big moments like this that it almost seems repetitive to keep being awed by them. But seriously, Philly is feeling it right now. That crowd is absolutely wild -- that Kyle Schwarber homer felt like it went a few feet farther because of the crowd -- and it’s something the Phillies would love to ride out for the next two games … maybe even avoiding a trip back to San Diego altogether. The Phillies have all the momentum in this series right now, but that’s the thing about momentum: It can go away in a matter of one swing.

The Phillies have everything going for them right now, and they could put a hammerlock on this series with a Game 4 win. But if they don’t get one, they’re facing three Padres aces without much of a bullpen to rely on. The Phillies are either going to win Game 4 and feel on top of the world … or have all those good vibes vanish in one night. No pressure.