Thursday afternoon, the Red Sox and Astros kick off their ALDS matchup with Game 1 at Minute Maid Park. Here is everything you need to know about the series and here's how you can watch Game 1.

A few hours prior to the game, the two teams announced their rosters and starting lineups. Here is the Red Sox's Game 1 starting lineup:

  1. SS Xander Bogaerts
  2. DH Eduardo Nunez
  3. LF Andrew Benintendi
  4. RF Mookie Betts
  5. 1B Mitch Moreland
  6. 2B Dustin Pedroia
  7. 3B Rafael Devers
  8. C Sandy Leon
  9. CF Jackie Bradley Jr.
    LHP Chris Sale

On the bench, most notably, is Hanley Ramirez, who authored a .242/.320/.429 batting line with 23 home runs during the regular season while splitting time at first base and DH. Nunez gets the call at DH while nursing a knee injury that will keep him from playing the field for at least one day.

Now here is the Astros' lineup for Game 1:

  1. CF George Springer
  2. 3B Alex Bregman
  3. 2B Jose Altuve
  4. SS Carlos Correa
  5. DH Evan Gattis
  6. RF Josh Reddick
  7. 1B Yuli Gurriel
  8. LF Marwin Gonzalez
  9. C Brian McCann
    RHP Justin Verlander

The Red Sox have Hanley on the bench and the Astros have Carlos Beltran on the bench. Beltran had a poor regular season, hitting .231/.283/.383 with 14 home runs, though he has been a big time postseason performer throughout his career. He owns a career .323/.432/.646 batting line with 16 home runs in 55 career postseason games. 

It is worth noting most of that damage was done earlier in his career. Beltran has hit a solid but unspectacular .254/.361/.408 in his last 21 postseason games dating back to 2013. In Game 1, the Astros are putting more weight in Beltran's recent performance than his career postseason performance, which is the smart move.