Boone: Verlander 'exactly right' that AL goes through Houston

Fresh off a World Series title, Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander flat-out rejected the suggestion earlier this week that the revamped New York Yankees are the team to beat in the American League.

He's not getting any argument, either, from Aaron Boone, the newly hired Yankees manager who watched from the broadcast booth in October as the Astros bounced New York from the American League Championship Series.

"We hope it’s a budding rivalry, but Justin Verlander is exactly right," Boone told ESPN on Thursday. "They’re the defending world champions. They have a nucleus of great players and it looks like this offseason have even improved on what their club was a year ago.

"So we understand that they come in probably the favorites, and it does go through Houston, and that's one of the teams we're going to have to beat if we’re going to reach our ultimate goal of being a champion."

It won't be easy. Not only are the Astros poised to bring back virtually every core position player from last year's team, including Carlos Correa, George Springer, Alex Bregman, and reigning American League MVP Jose Altuve, but they've also added Gerrit Cole to a rotation that finished sixth in the majors in WAR. As currently constituted, Houston is projected by FanGraphs to win 97 games in 2018, while Baseball Prospectus has pegged them to finish with the best record in the majors at 99-63.

Still, following the addition of Giancarlo Stanton, the Yankees should pose a serious threat to Houston's pennant ambitions. With a lineup anchored by Stanton and Aaron Judge, the AL Rookie of the Year last season, the Yankees should once again field one of the game's elite offenses, while a full season from right-hander Sonny Gray and a return to form from Masahiro Tanaka could give New York a top-end rotation, as well.

And, Boone said, following their Game 7 defeat in the ALCS, his guys are hungry.

"What stands out being in the room right now is, each guy I've spoken to, the hunger is there," Boone told MLB.com's Bryan Hoch earlier this week. "There's no satisfaction with what they were able to accomplish. We understand it's a very tough road, and that'll be one of our messages, especially for young players that have had success. From what I can tell, the hunger in these guys is real."