Rested And Healthy, The New York Yankees Are Ready For The Exciting Cleveland Guardians In The Playoffs

With a record of 99-63, the New York Yankees won the American League East Division by 7 games over the second place Toronto Blue Jays.

As a result of their division win and their record, the Yankees had a bye for the Wild Card round. The same was true for the American League West Champion Houston Astros, who had a record of 106-56, a full 16 games ahead of the second place Seattle Mariners.

The Blue Jays are already out of the playoffs, having been swept in two games in the Wild Card Round by the surging Mariners.

The Yankees are now prepared to take on the young and surprising Cleveland Guardians in the best-of five American League Division Series. The series begins in New York, October 11.

The game will be televised by TBS at 7:37PM EST.

The Guardians swept the Tampa Bay Rays, a Yankees division rival, in two Wild Card victories in Cleveland.

The schedule for the Division Series gives the Yankees the home field advantage, a direct result of their regular season record.

The Houston Astros also have home field advantage in their Division Series showdown with the Mariners.

Contrast Of Two Totally Different Teams:

As noted by Spotrac, The New York Yankees have an estimated 26-man payroll of $211M. Only the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers have higher estimated 26-man payrolls.

The Cleveland Guardians have an estimated 26-man payroll of $56.5M, third lowest in MLB.

As stated by Statista, the Yankees average age is 30.12 years, second oldest to the New York Mets 30.68

The Cleveland Guardians average age is 26.4.

Attendance at Yankee Stadium this year averaged 40,207, third highest in all of baseball.

Attendance at Cleveland’s Progressive Field averaged 17,050, or 25th out of the 30 clubs.

The Yankees season ending roster listed one player with no major league service time. That was utility infielder Oswald Peraza.

The Guardians season ending roster listed seven players with no major league service time. They included Steven Kwan, Oscar Gonzalez, Will Benson, Bo Naylor, Gabriel Arias, Will Benson, and Kirk McCarty.

Two different teams, in two different markets, with two different roster strategies.

Game 1 Matchup:

Yankees manager Aaron Boone has announced that right-hander Gerrit Cole (13-8) will start Game 1 on the mound for New York. It is likely Boone will turn to lefty Nestor Cortes in Game 2 and right-hander Luis Severino in Game 3.

At the age of 32, Cole is pitching in his 10th big league season.

Cleveland manager Terry Francona did not have to use right-hander Cal Quantrill (15-5) in the Wild Card Series against the Rays. That means Quantrill will get the ball in New York for Game 1 to start the Division Series. A rested Shane Bieber will likely pitch the second game, followed by righty Triston McKenzie for Game 3.

Yankees-Guardians Division Series Schedule:

The Yankees and Guardians will match up as follows in the Division Series:

Game 1-at Yankee Stadium

Game 2-at Yankee Stadium

Game 3-at Progressive Field in Cleveland

Game 4-at Progressive Field in Cleveland (if necessary)

Game 5-at Yankee Stadium (if necessary)

About Gerrit Cole:

The Yankees had the Guardians number this past season, winning 5 of 6 games against Cleveland.

For his part, Cole, was 2-0, with a 1.42 ERA against the Guardians this year.

The young Guardians simply don’t have the same veteran presence or postseason experience as the more seasoned and power-hitting Yankees.

With the Guardians youth comes dramatic speed on the bases and on defense, excellent contact hitting at the plate, superb defense all around the diamond, and dedication to playing fundamentally sound baseball.

To this scout, the Guardians will be vulnerable to the high spin rates and high quality breaking balls the Yankees pitching staff features. Especially from four-time All Star Gerrit Cole.

Cole was a 1st round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates out of UCLA in 2011. Cole was the first player selected in the draft, and he received a signing bonus of $4M from the Pirates.

The Pirates traded Cole to the Houston Astros in 2018. He became a free-agent in 2019, and the Yankees signed him to a 9-year, $324M contract in 2020.

Cole has a very solid and complete repertoire, using a four seam fastball that hits 97.34 miles per hour, a masterful changeup, a slider, a curveball and a cutter.

brooksbaseball.net lists Cole’s preference to be his fastball at 40.7% of his pitches, and his slider at a high 31% of his offerings.

Cole has struck out an average of 11.5 hitters per nine innings this season, while walking 2.2 hitters per nine.

In watching the Guardians play both live and on television, to this scout, the team often struggles with sliders that break late and are down and away. Right handed hitters such as shortstop Amed Rosario and right fielder Oscar Gonzalez, two of their finer hitters, struggle with late breaking, outside sliders.

According to TeamRankings, the Guardians have struck out the fewest times in baseball, at 18.4% of their plate appearances. They average 18.7% strikeouts on the road.

The Yankees are ranked 15th in team strikeouts, with a 22.6% strikeout rate this year. They have struck out 22.9% of the time at home.

If there is one vulnerability for Cole, it is the fact he gave up 33 home runs this season in 200.2 innings pitched, covering 33 starts. That number tied him with 2017 for the most starts of his career.

About Cal Quantrill:

Cal Quantrill, 27, is the son of former major league pitcher Paul Quantrill.

The younger Quantrill was a first round draft pick of the San Diego Padres out Stanford University in 2016. The No. 8 player selected in the draft, Quantrill received a signing bonus of $3,963,045.

Quantrill, 27, came to the Cleveland Indians (now the Guardians) in a blockbuster, nine-player trade with the San Diego Padres in August 2020.

In fact, five Cleveland players on their Division Series roster were traded to Cleveland in that deal. Along with Quantrill, the Indians received infielder Gabriel Arias, catcher Austin Hedges, infielder Owen Miller, and first baseman Josh Naylor.

In the deal, highly regarded pitcher Mike Clevinger, outfielder Greg Allen and prospect pitcher Matt Waldron were traded to the Padres.

Quantrill is only in his 4th major league season. He finished this year with a very solid 15-5 record in his 32 starts. His 186.1 innings pitched were the most of his career.

Quantrill generally pitches to contact, and the outstanding defense behind him is crucial to his success. He has struck out only 6.2 hitters per nine innings, far fewer than Cole.

It might get scary for Quantrill and the Guardians with the velocity of the balls coming off the bats of the very powerful Yankees lineup. Quantrill will have to spot his pitches, and if he can, keep the ball on the ground.

But the fact that Quantrill yielded 21 home runs this year may be a concern. That issue is magnified since he will be facing the All Time American League Home Run Champion, Aaron Judge. Judge and his powerful teammates, like Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo can blow open a game with one mighty swing of the bat.

Quantrill throws both a four-seam fastball at 95 miles per hour, and a sinking, two-seam fastball at 94 miles per hour. According to Brooksbaseball.net, Quantrill uses a sharp cutter, a changeup and a curve to round out his repertoire. He does rely mostly on changing speeds, altering the eye level of the hitter, and keeping the hitter off balance. The Yankees can look for the fastball/cutter combination as his most often used pitches.

Summary:

On paper, Game 1 between Gerrit Cole for the Yankees and Cal Quantrill for the Guardians seems like a pitching mis-match.

The Yankees have much more power than the Guardians, having hit 254 regular season home runs, compared to the Guardians 127. The Yankees were first in baseball in homers. The Guardians were 29th. Only the Detroit Tigers hit fewer homers than Cleveland.

Cleveland does run. They do steal bases, as their rank of 3rd in baseball indicates. The Guardians stole 119 bases. But the Yankees stole 101 bases themselves. So they, too, are a threat to steal.

In a short series, timely hitting has to overcome outstanding pitching.

Every team involved has the ability to pitch their way to the next round of the playoffs.

However, with Gerrit Cole on the mound in Game 1 for the Yankees, it will mean Cleveland will have to take advantage of any scoring opportunity Cole provides. Especially early in the game.

If the Guardians get men on base, they have to score. They may not get many chances.

While the Yankees are favored to win this game and the series, Game 1 could set the tone.

The Yankees would be wise not to take the Cleveland Guardians for granted.

The Guardians would be wise to keep the Yankees out of the big inning, where a long ball can change the game in a matter of moments.