The Yankees won't admit it, but up 2-0 against the Guardians, this ALCS is theirs
Alex Verdugo and Juan Soto of the New York Yankees react during a second-inning pitching change against the Cleveland Guardians in ALCS Game 2 at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The American League Championship Series is over.
Sure, the Yankees and Guardians will reconvene on Thursday at Cleveland’s Progressive Field for Game 3 with the Yankees holding a 2-0 lead. And, yes, the Guardians might steal a game or even be able to get the series back to Yankee Stadium for a Game 6.
But don’t count on it.
Based on what we’ve seen so far in the kiddies table that is the AL playoffs, if the Yankees blow this one it will rival their dropping the 2004 ALCS to the Red Sox after being up 3-0. Remember, that Boston team was really good.
This Cleveland team? Well, the best thing we can say about the Guardians is they are the class of the AL Central. A division that included the worst team in baseball history (sorry, 1962 Mets) in the White Sox, and spawned three playoff teams that went a combined 30-9 against Chicago.
Both the AL and NL Central divisions should be in danger of being relegated like they do in soccer leagues. Since the Royals in 2015 and the Cubs in 2016, no Central team in either league has even made the World Series, let alone won one.
The economic disparities in baseball make it so the East and West teams can dominate. The Yankees and their $300-plus million payroll have so far had to face the Royals ($115 million) and Guardians ($93 million).
No other major sport allows this kind of top-heavy postseason. Fans have reaped the benefits in the NL, as the powerhouse Dodgers, Padres and Phillies and the highest-payroll and covered in playoff pixie dust Mets have played truly memorable games and series.
The AL? Eh.
Without the Red Sox or especially the Astros to get through, the Yankees have been like adults at that kiddies table — banging their knees on the edges, knocking over the sippy cups, spilling spaghetti sauce on their pinstriped shirts.
And still the Yankees have won five of six against K.C. and Cleveland without playing particularly well.
We’re talking about the 8-for-52 with runners in scoring position. We’re talking about Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Anthony Rizzo both getting caught off second base in the same inning in Game 2. We’re talking about Aaron Judge waiting until Tuesday for his first home run of the postseason.
We’re also talking about a feeling that no matter what the Yankees do, good or bad, they are eventually going to beat the Guardians.
“It's about getting wins,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We're in the postseason. I mean, those things are going to happen . . . I feel overall we're playing pretty well.”
That is debatable. But Boone is right that it doesn’t matter. All that matters is winning, and whether the Yankees play crisp baseball or something less than that, they still most likely are going to be facing the Mets or Dodgers in the World Series.
“We're not satisfied,” Rizzo said. “We know the Guardians are a very, very good ballclub, and being up two games means nothing to us. We need to go into there, it's going to be hostile, and take care of business.”
The Yankees franchise knows about hostile Cleveland. David Wells was once reduced to tears there by fans hooting about his late mother while he warmed up for a playoff game.
The star-packed Cleveland team of Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome beat the Yankees in the 1997 playoffs with the help of Sandy Alomar Jr.’s home run off a pre-deity status Mariano Rivera.
The 2007 Cleveland team of CC Sabathia and Grady Sizemore and Kenny Lofton beat the Yankees in the playoffs with the help of some Lake Erie midges.
This is neither of those teams. These Guardians have a star in Jose Ramirez, one of the top closers in baseball in Emmanuel Clase, and a would-be Bronx villain in Josh Naylor, who Yankees fans this week remembered from his “rock the baby” celebration after he hit a home run off Gerrit Cole in the 2022 ALDS (which the Yankees won in five games).
Oh, there were boos this week for Naylor, but it was about a 3 out of 10 on the Altuve scale.
You can’t manufacture true venom for a foe you expect to beat. The fans must feel that.
Even if the Yankees won’t say it, we’ll say it for them: This series is over.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.