The New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians were the top two teams in the American League in the regular season, and they are the final two teams remaining in the postseason, as the two are set to face off in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series beginning on Monday night at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees and Guardians had met in the postseason six previous times, with the most recent coming in 2022 when the Yankees defeated the Guardians in five games in the ALDS.
However, this is the first time since 1998 that the two teams have met in the ALCS, where the Yankees defeated Cleveland in six games en route to a World Series championship. Overall, the Yankees have won four of the six prior postseason series meetings between the two.
The Yankees are fresh off a four-game series victory over the Kansas City Royals in the ALDS, in which pitching, especially the Yankees bullpen, shined. In 15.2 innings of work, the Yankees bullpen did not allow a single run. So, despite only scoring three runs in the final three games of the series, the bullpen was able to help them find victory in two of the series’ final three games.
While the Yankees struggled to score runs in bunches, one player rose to the occasion. Giancarlo Stanton, who many Yankee fans call a “playoff riser,” did just that. In the series, Stanton hit .375 with a homer, four RBI, and even a stolen base. With the continued postseason struggles of Aaron Judge, Stanton came to the rescue for the Yankees.
Speaking of Judge, the Yankees hope to see more from him as the lights grow brighter. Judge’s playoff struggles are well documented, and the numbers don’t lie. In 13 at-tats in the ALDS against Kansas City, collected just two hits and hit .154. However, he roped a 115.5 mph double into the gap, which could perhaps provide some momentum moving forward.
For the Guardians, it was midseason acquisition Lane Thomas who made the biggest play of their ALDS series victory over the Tigers. In a win-or-go-home Game 5, Thomas came up with the game tied at one, with the bases loaded. Facing likely AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, he connected on a grand slam that sent the Progressive Field crowd into a frenzy, and helped lead the Guardians to a 7-3 victory.
Although he had a rough series, only batting .188 in the ALDS, the always-dangerous Jose Ramirez cannot be overlooked. Ramirez fell one homer short of a 40/40 season in the regular season and will look to help lead the Guardians to the second World Series of his career.
“He’s the complete package.” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I get on people all the time. If I hear another how underappreciated, underrated he is from somebody on a network or something, I want to rip my arms off and throw it at the TV. He’s not underappreciated. He is not underrated. He’s a great on-track Hall of Fame player, and everybody knows it.”
The best-of-seven series will begin on Monday, where Carlos Rodon will get the ball for the Yankees in Game 1, with Gerrit Cole getting the start in Game 2. Cole will be followed by Clarke Schmidt in Game 3 and Luis Gil in Game 4. For the Guardians, Alex Cobb gets the ball in Game 1.
