NEW YORK -- The Houston Astros are one win away from their second American League pennant in three years and the New York Yankees are one loss away from going home for the offseason. The Astros hold a commanding 3-1 series lead heading into ALCS Game 5 on Friday night (GameTracker). The Yankees will have Giancarlo Stanton in their lineup Friday with their season on the line. 

Stanton missed Games 2-4 with a quad strain he suffered running out an infield single in Game 1. Here is New York's Game 5 lineup:

  1. 1B DJ LeMahieu
  2. RF Aaron Judge
  3. 2B Gleyber Torres
  4. DH Giancarlo Stanton
  5. CF Aaron Hicks
  6. C Gary Sanchez
  7. SS Didi Gregorius
  8. 3B Gio Urshela
  9. LF Brett Gardner

Stanton took batting practice prior to Games 3 and 4 and tested the quad running the bases on Thursday. Manager Aaron Boone said he considered him a pinch-hitting option in Games 2-4, though Stanton never did get an at-bat. Given the nature of the injury, playing the outfield is not doable right now. He can hit and run the bases gingerly at this point.

"Just felt good about his progress yesterday. I felt like it was the first day where he made some pretty good progress," Boone said Friday. "Clearly not a 100 percent running, don't feel like hitting will be an issue for him. And just have to kind of govern himself out on the bases. But he's been kind of wanting in there the last few days and held off, held off. And then he actually did come by my office last night and we both kind of said, 'Let's go.' And so excited to have him back in there."

The Yankees could have replaced Stanton due to injury on their ALCS roster, but doing so would have made him ineligible for the next round had they advanced. Rather than swap him out for a fourth outfielder type and potentially lose him for the World Series, the Yankees essentially played with a 24-man roster while waiting for Stanton to get healthy enough to DH.

Edwin Encarnacion, who started at DH in every postseason game prior to Friday, is 1 for 15 with eight strikeouts in the ALCS and has generally looked lost at the plate. The at-bat quality has been poor and he isn't driving the baseball when he does make contact. Even though he's a respected veteran, he was the obvious candidate to come out of the lineup in Game 5.

Stanton started in left field in all three ALDS games and in Game 1 of the ALCS before the quad injury. He is 3 for 10 with a home run and more walks (four) than strikeouts (three) this postseason. Various injuries, including biceps and knee trouble, limited Stanton to 18 regular season games this year.