The Guardians head to Yankee Stadium for another round of playoff baseball.
Fresh off a Game 5 win over the Tigers on Saturday, the Guardians will be the Yankees' next challenge in the ALCS, which begins Monday night in the Bronx.
The Yankees have faced the Guardians many times in October over the past few years (most recently in the 2022 ALDS), but this time they feature the best bullpen during the regular season and the most dominant closer in the game. They have a consistently underrated star third, led by Emmanuel Clase. First baseman Jose Ramirez supports the young batting lineup.
“Obviously, Cleveland has been the favorite to play in the league all year.” [AL] Central had a really consistent, solid year,” coach Aaron Boone said Saturday afternoon from practice at Yankee Stadium. “They do it in different ways, obviously the bullpen is great, they’re very athletic, they play really well defensively, they’re very balanced on offense.
“Obviously they've got some guys down the order that are really going to hurt, and they've got a superstar player in Ramirez.”
The Yankees went 4-2 against the Guardians in the regular season, winning two of three games against the Guardians in April and the Bronx in August.
They need four wins in seven games to advance to the World Series for the first time since 2009.
As of Saturday afternoon, before the Guardians' 7-3 win over the Tigers, the Yankees had not yet decided on their starting pitcher for Monday's Game 1, but Carlos Rodon will be pitched until Gerrit Cole returns from regular rest. or Clark Schmidt. In preparation for the second game on Tuesday.
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Games 3 through 5 will be played Thursday through Saturday at Progressive Field, which was home to chironomid land this past October, after which the series will continue as needed with Games 6 and 7 next Monday and Tuesday. Return to Yankee Stadium.
“We're playing a very good Yankee team,” first-year coach Stephen Vogt said Saturday after the ALDS win. “We've seen them in the regular season. This is one of the most talented teams in the league. So we know our job is right for us. Tonight. I'm going to have fun and when I wake up [Sunday]It's about time. ”
In the ALDS, the Guardians started Tanner Bibby (who will be rested and unable to start until Game 2 of the ALCS), Alex Cobb (who will be rested and will start Game 1), and Matthew Boyd.
Possible fourth starters in the ALCS include left-hander Joey Cantillo and right-hander Gavin Williams.
However, the strength of the Guardians' pitching staff was their bullpen, which posted a 2.57 ERA during the regular season. That's more than half as good as the second-place team (Brewers, 3.11).
Crace had his best year ever for a relief pitcher, with just five earned runs (0.61 ERA) in 74¹/₃ innings and a WHIP of just 0.659.
But the Yankees lost the series in April when Anthony Volpe hit a game-tying double with two outs in the ninth inning against Clase, one unearned run against Clase, and three saves on 50 attempts. I recorded one of them. .
In the ALDS, the Guardians bullpen pitched 25/3 innings and allowed nine runs (3.16 ERA), with four of those runs coming from Crace.
Rookie right-hander Cade Smith was also a weapon on the right side, pitching 6¹/₃ innings in the series, allowing only one run, two hits, and 12 strikeouts.
Ramirez, who is the biggest threat to the Guardians' batting lineup with his power and speed, has had the same number as Cole in the past, posting 9 hits in 23 at bats and a batting average of 1.283 against Cole.
In the 2022 ALDS, which the Yankees needed five games to win, Ramirez went 8-for-20 with a .909 OPS.
Meanwhile, Boone gave credit to former catcher Vogt, who succeeded future Hall of Famer Terry Francona.
“It's my first time competing and I just came off the field, but my heart rate seems to be very good. I think I did a great job,” Boone said. “They haven't necessarily done what Detroit has done, but they've done a lot with bullpen-centric themes and played a lot of platoon advantages in different situations.
“I think he's done a really great job with that.”
