HOUSTON -- Brett Gardner was just a couple weeks shy of heading to spring training before he finally got this sight out of his mind: Lance McCullers Jr. and Brian McCann of the Houston Astros gleefully jumping into each other's arms near the pitcher's mound at Minute Maid Park.

In winning Game 7 of last fall's American League Championship Series against Gardner's New York Yankees, the Astros had reason to revel. Eleven days later, as World Series champions, their celebration continued.

"To come that close and to not be able to make it happen, it's pretty painful," Gardner said of falling just shy of the World Series.

Monday night, for the first time since going 0-for-Houston in last year's playoffs, the Yankees return to the city for a four-game set -- riding a nine-game winning streak.

"Now we're hungrier than ever," Yankees center fielder Aaron Hicks said. "The loss that we had in the playoffs against them last year made us a more hungry team. We had that feeling of losing, and not getting to our goal. So that makes us a better team."

Clearly, there will be some carryover for the Yankees on this trip.

"In the course of a regular season, there's those days that give you a little more of a jolt knowing you're going up against a team that you've had some amazing battles with and that you know is a team you're going to have to go through if we're going to get to where you are," Yankees first-year manager Aaron Boone said.

"But as much as we can, too, we realize that it's April."

The Yankees' struggles against the Astros last season were not limited to the fall. They also had difficulty in the spring and summer, too, dropping five of the seven games the teams played during the regular season.

Away from Yankee Stadium -- where the Yankees went 6-0 in last year's playoffs -- New York looked particularly ugly in its meetings with the Astros. Including the postseason, the Yankees went 1-6 in Houston last year.

"It's a tough place to go in and play, but it's a fun place to go in and play," Gardner said. "The toughest part of being in their ballpark is just, they've got a great team. The ballpark -- us as baseball players and entertainers, if you will -- that's all fun for us.

"We enjoy playing in an atmosphere like that and look forward to it."

Raucous, energetic, rollicking; pick your adjective -- the ballpark had it all during Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 of the ALCS last fall. But the results were anything but fun for the Yankees, as Houston outscored the Bombers 15-3 in those games.

As the Astros charged through an emotional postseason, they were galvanized by a region recovering from Hurricane Harvey. This year's club -- off to a 19-10 start -- is already building off last season's success.

"In some ways, they feel like they're a better team than they were last year," Boone said. "They're a load."

For Hicks, it's all about their pitching.

"They've just got a good mix of veteran pitchers and young pitchers," Hicks said. "So they've got a good staff, and guys like [Justin] Verlander who know how to pitch and are definitely passing it along to their future guys coming up."

The 35-year-old Verlander -- 4-1 with a 1.36 ERA -- is backed up by another former Cy Young winner, Dallas Keuchel (1-4, 4.00 ERA this season), plus Charlie Morton (3-0, 1.86), newly acquired Gerrit Cole (2-1, 1.73) and McCullers (4-1, 3.71).

During last year's ALCS, Verlander had a dizzying 21 strikeouts over 16 innings. Keuchel was similarly strong, striking out 18 Yankees in 11 2/3 innings.

Houston's offense is no less potent. Reigning American League MVP Jose Altuve is off to a strong start (batting .351 with an .857 OPS in 29 games), as is Carlos Correa (.320, four home runs). George Springer and Josh Reddick -- each with a team-best six home runs -- have been supplying the power.

"It'll be a good test for us," Boone said.

The Yankees are in the middle of a difficult 13-game stretch against teams with playoff aspirations. Before this series with the defending-champion Astros, they completed a three-game sweep of the Angels on Sunday night in Anaheim. After leaving Houston, the Yankees will return to New York for three against Cleveland and three more against Boston. The Angels are the only team in this group that didn't make the playoffs last year.

"It is still early in the season, but all these games are very important," Gardner said. "One or two of these guys right here in the end of April could be the deciding factor in, let's say, home-field advantage and the playoffs. You never know."