The Yankees aren't the only rock stars in Cleveland this week as ALCS shares spotlight with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony

If you love baseball and if you love rock and roll, Cleveland could be the place for you this weekend.

The Guardians are scheduled to host the Yankees in Games 3-5 of the AL Championship Series starting Thursday at Progressive Field.

The Yankees lead the best-of-seven series, 2-0. If the Guardians win one of the next two, Saturday night’s Game 5 will become necessary.

Also taking place on Saturday night, about a one-minute walk from the ballpark: The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, home of the NBA’s Cavaliers.

“This weekend’s gonna be lit!” said former Yankees and Cleveland outfielder Nick Swisher, a Columbus native who threw out the first pitch before Game 2 on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.

“The fact that you’ve got playoff baseball going on in Cleveland right now,” said Swisher, who is a special adviser to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. “You’ve got the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. You’ve got the Browns playing on Sunday. I mean, the 216 is going to be on fire.”

"The 216" refers to Cleveland’s area code.

The Browns are 1-5, so that one is a little dicey. But the stadium will be packed as it always is, and Cleveland is playing its in-state rival from Cincinnati.

All the events are probably why more than a few Yankees fans who wanted to travel to Cleveland for the ALCS were shocked at the hotel prices and lack of available flights.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in 2023 and in Los Angeles the year before. The last time it was held in Cleveland — home of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame since it opened in 1995 — was 2021, when more than 30,000 attended the ceremony.

Progressive Field has a capacity of about 35,000. So if there’s a Game 5, a lot of people are going to jam into a very small area at the same time.

This year’s inductees include first-ballot Hall of Famers Cher, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Kool & The Gang and Ozzy Osbourne, plus Mary J. Blige, Dave Matthews Band and A Tribe Called Quest.

Just like in baseball, some performers have to wait for multiple years on the ballot before they get in. But steroids are not an issue.

Swisher said he has been to the Rock Hall “4-5 times,” and that he used to love bringing his father.

“I wasn’t a crazy rock guy growing up, but my dad was,” Swisher said. “Being able to take him there and experiencing all that, just the history that goes all up in that was awesome. My dad’s a Kool & The Gang guy. Rock and roll and Motown. That was right up his alley.”

For the current Yankees, with their focus being on their playoff series and all that, a leisure trip to the Rock Hall isn’t in the cards this week.

Gerrit Cole, who is not scheduled to pitch until a possible Game 6 in the Bronx, said he has never visited the Hall.

“It’s a shame,” Cole said. “I should have gone. I don’t really remember having an opportunity. I like music. I certainly like rock.”

When Cole was shown this year’s induction list, he scrolled through a reporter’s phone and broke down the performers like he was critiquing an opposing batting order.

“That’s quite a lineup,” Cole said. “Obviously, Ozzy’s got that [Cole makes a loud guitar screeching sound], right? Peter Frampton. Obviously, Dave Matthews Band — ‘Ants Marching.’ Cher’s a great vocalist. Mary J.’s a great vocalist.”

Asked which performing artist he would like to meet, Cole said, “Oh, I would have liked to have met Frank.”

As in Sinatra. Who is not a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

“Probably the Jersey Hall of Fame,” Cole said. (Yes, Class of 2008.)

Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle, who visited the Rock Hall in his rookie year of 2014, said he likes “Peter and Ozzy. I know Foreigner just from the 80s. [The Rock Hall] is cool. I liked it.”

Outfielder Alex Verdugo, who said he is mostly a rap and hip-hop fan, said, “Lil Wayne was always my guy. Trent [Grisham] has got me on some country, unfortunately.”

Verdugo said he, too, has never visited the Rock Hall. Maybe he would if he knew Lil Wayne was on the ballot for the first time in 2024.

“There’s some interest, for sure,” Verdugo said. “If there’s an off day where it lines up, that would be cool to do.”

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By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

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.