Hot at the right time, Cleveland carries a 26-6 record over the past 32 games into the first game of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night.
The New York Yankees take on the Guardians in Game 1 (7:37 p.m. ET, TBS) to open their sixth postseason series all-time.
CALL ON THE JUDGE
Yankees ascended to an American League East title by leading the majors with 254 homers, including 62 by slugger Aaron Judge.
Cal Quantrill gets the start for Cleveland on Tuesday. He ended the regular season by going 11-0 with a 2.95 ERA over his final 17 starts.
“He can shape the ball in many different fashions,” Cleveland pitching coach Carl Willis said. “He sinks it, he cuts it and he uses his curveball. So he can be somewhat unpredictable at times, as opposed to maybe if you look back a couple years ago, it was more easy or easier just to prepare for a sinker. So I think he’s evolved into a much more well-rounded pitcher with his repertoire.”
Judge is entering his sixth postseason with the Yankees and final one before hitting free agency. So far, he is a .230 hitter (31-for-135) with 11 homers and 22 RBIs in 35 playoff games. He is +205 to hit a home run at Caesars Sportsbook (+210 at DraftKings) and +2400 to hit two home runs at FanDuel.
Quantrill is 0-0 with a 3.38 ERA in four career appearances against the Yankees. His lone start against them was April 23 in New York, when he allowed three runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings.
Against Judge, Quantrill gave up two walks but the 27-year-old has gotten the slugger out in each of his other five at-bats.
Big swings can often mean big strikeout totals. Anthony Rizzo, Josh Donaldson, Aaron Hicks and Andrew Benintendi have multiple Ks in their career against Quantrill.
–Our Pick: Quantrill over 3.5 strikeouts at -125 with DraftKings
KING COLE
Gerrit Cole is hoping for a better postseason than last year, when he allowed three runs on four hits in two-plus innings last year in the wild-card game at Boston. Because of the pandemic season, when he went 2-0 with a 2.95 ERA in three postseason starts at neutral sites, Cole is making his first Yankees postseason start in New York.
Cole is facing Cleveland for the second time in the postseason. He faced them in Game 1 of the 2020 wild-card round, when he allowed two runs on six hits in seven innings of a 12-3 win.
Cole is 8-5 with a 2.93 ERA in 14 postseason starts and heads into this year’s postseason after going 13-8 with a 3.50 ERA during the regular season while leading the AL in both strikeouts (257) and home runs allowed (33).
“Obviously because it’s Gerrit Cole and because he came here and signed a huge contract, the long term, and the ace of this staff, the New York Yankees staff, nothing will ever be necessarily good enough,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “But I think he’s had a very strong year.”
Current Cleveland batters available in this series have 28 whiffs in 77 total previous at-bats against Cole.
Cole went 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA in two starts against Cleveland on April 24 and July 2.
–Our Picks: Cole over 6.5 strikeouts at +110 with DraftKings; Cole to record a win at +120 with DraftKings
–Field Level Media
