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Following a day off and some home cooking the 9-3 Guardians take on the 10-3 Yankees in a three-game series in Cleveland. The Yankees’ record looks impressive but they have not been dominating; five of the Yankees’ 10 wins have been by one run. Also, they have not been playing strong teams; their four opponents have a combined record of 15-24 in games against the teams other than the Yankees.
The Guardians’ opponents so far are 12-23 against other teams, so both the Yankees and Guardians have been mostly beating up on losing teams. This will be a good test for both of them. The Guardians' run differential is +35, still the best in the majors. The Yankees' is +15.
The Guardians get a break in that they miss the Yankees’ two best starting pitchers so far. Carlos Rodon and Marcus Stroman have ERA’s of 1.72 and 2.12 in three starts each. Garrett Cole is on the IR and so is Shane Bieber, so it evens out as both teams are missing their ace.
The Yankees have been just OK offensively, ranking 13th in scoring at 4.7 runs per game and 13th in OPS. As is common early in the season, some guys are hot and some are cold. SS Anthony Volpe, their 22-year-old phenom, is smoking hot at .372/1.041. Mega-star Juan Soto is hitting .360/1.008. Oswaldo Cabrera is hitting .333/.934 and Giancarlo Stanton is at .256/.894. But others are struggling, like Aaron Judge at .178 and Gleybar Torres at .192.
Overall the Yankees are hitting a decent but not great .242/.733. They rank 14th in isolated power and 22nd in extra base hit percentage which are both lower than you would expect from a team normally associated with power. They have 15 home runs in 13 games.
The Yankees are only 24th in first inning runs per game, which is surprising considering the stars they can stack at the top of the order. They don’t run much, averaging a stolen base attempt every two games.
Their bullpen FIP is 4.24 while the actual ERA is 2.40, so they’ve been getting some luck. Defensively they rank 13th while the Guardians rank 11th.
The Yankees are not as old as they have been in recent years, but they do have a few players getting long in the tooth, including DJ LaMahieu, who is 35 and on the injured list. Stanton and Anthony Rizzo are 34 and Cole is 33, but they don’t have as many 30-somethings on the roster as I’ve seen in the past.
The Yankees will start Clarke Schmidt (4.66 ERA), Luis Gil (3.00), and lefty Nestor Cortes (3.50) this weekend.
Friday’s game features Schmidt against Carlos Carrasco. Schmidt is a 28-year-old right-hander with a career record of 14-15, 4.37 ERA. This year in two starts Schmidt has gone just 9.2 innings, allowing 13 hits, 3 walks, and a 1.66 WHIP in addition to the 4.66 ERA. Current Guardians are hitting .444/1.001 against Schmidt. Kwan is 3-for-5, Jose 4-for-7, and Gimenez 3-for-7. The top of our batting order should do some damage if history is any indication.
Carrasco has been bobbing and weaving. In two starts he’s pitched only 8 innings with a 5.40 ERA. In his last start he went 3 innings, throwing 78 pitches as he kept trying to get the Twins to chase breaking balls out of the zone. He allowed one run, but walked three and the Twins hit 17 foul balls as Carlos struggled to get swings and misses. He reminded me of Charles Nagy after he lost a couple of MPH off his fastball, continuously nibbling at the low outside corner.
I’m not looking forward to seeing Cookie face lefties Soto, Rizzo, Cabrera, and Verdugo. Rizzo is 3-for-5 with three walks and a home run against Cookie. Stanton and Soto have also homered off him.
Game 1 could be pretty high scoring on both sides. At least our bullpen got a day off Thursday in case they have to go six innings or more. Yankee closer Clay Holmes has five saves and a 0.00 ERA.
Should be a great weekend of baseball as the Guardians test themselves against easily the best opponent they’ve faced so far.
The Guardians’ opponents so far are 12-23 against other teams, so both the Yankees and Guardians have been mostly beating up on losing teams. This will be a good test for both of them. The Guardians' run differential is +35, still the best in the majors. The Yankees' is +15.
The Guardians get a break in that they miss the Yankees’ two best starting pitchers so far. Carlos Rodon and Marcus Stroman have ERA’s of 1.72 and 2.12 in three starts each. Garrett Cole is on the IR and so is Shane Bieber, so it evens out as both teams are missing their ace.
The Yankees have been just OK offensively, ranking 13th in scoring at 4.7 runs per game and 13th in OPS. As is common early in the season, some guys are hot and some are cold. SS Anthony Volpe, their 22-year-old phenom, is smoking hot at .372/1.041. Mega-star Juan Soto is hitting .360/1.008. Oswaldo Cabrera is hitting .333/.934 and Giancarlo Stanton is at .256/.894. But others are struggling, like Aaron Judge at .178 and Gleybar Torres at .192.
Overall the Yankees are hitting a decent but not great .242/.733. They rank 14th in isolated power and 22nd in extra base hit percentage which are both lower than you would expect from a team normally associated with power. They have 15 home runs in 13 games.
The Yankees are only 24th in first inning runs per game, which is surprising considering the stars they can stack at the top of the order. They don’t run much, averaging a stolen base attempt every two games.
Their bullpen FIP is 4.24 while the actual ERA is 2.40, so they’ve been getting some luck. Defensively they rank 13th while the Guardians rank 11th.
The Yankees are not as old as they have been in recent years, but they do have a few players getting long in the tooth, including DJ LaMahieu, who is 35 and on the injured list. Stanton and Anthony Rizzo are 34 and Cole is 33, but they don’t have as many 30-somethings on the roster as I’ve seen in the past.
The Yankees will start Clarke Schmidt (4.66 ERA), Luis Gil (3.00), and lefty Nestor Cortes (3.50) this weekend.
Friday’s game features Schmidt against Carlos Carrasco. Schmidt is a 28-year-old right-hander with a career record of 14-15, 4.37 ERA. This year in two starts Schmidt has gone just 9.2 innings, allowing 13 hits, 3 walks, and a 1.66 WHIP in addition to the 4.66 ERA. Current Guardians are hitting .444/1.001 against Schmidt. Kwan is 3-for-5, Jose 4-for-7, and Gimenez 3-for-7. The top of our batting order should do some damage if history is any indication.
Carrasco has been bobbing and weaving. In two starts he’s pitched only 8 innings with a 5.40 ERA. In his last start he went 3 innings, throwing 78 pitches as he kept trying to get the Twins to chase breaking balls out of the zone. He allowed one run, but walked three and the Twins hit 17 foul balls as Carlos struggled to get swings and misses. He reminded me of Charles Nagy after he lost a couple of MPH off his fastball, continuously nibbling at the low outside corner.
I’m not looking forward to seeing Cookie face lefties Soto, Rizzo, Cabrera, and Verdugo. Rizzo is 3-for-5 with three walks and a home run against Cookie. Stanton and Soto have also homered off him.
Game 1 could be pretty high scoring on both sides. At least our bullpen got a day off Thursday in case they have to go six innings or more. Yankee closer Clay Holmes has five saves and a 0.00 ERA.
Should be a great weekend of baseball as the Guardians test themselves against easily the best opponent they’ve faced so far.
