New York Yankees Prepare to Play Guardians in ALCS

A day prior to the ALCS, the Yankees have chosen their Game 1 starter.

If the New York Yankees want to make it to their first World Series in fifteen years, they will need to make some Clevelanders scowl.

The Cleveland Guardians defeated the Detroit Tigers 7-3 on Saturday afternoon in Game 5 of the 2017 American League Division Series, securing the opportunity to play the Yankees in the Championship Series, which begins Monday in The Bronx (7:37 p.m. ET, TBS/TruTV).

In Saturday’s decisive game, Cleveland scored five runs against Detroit ace Tarik Skubal (L, 1-1), with all but one of those runs coming from Lane Thomas’ grand slam in the fifth inning, which secured a lasting lead. Thomas added another run with an infield single in the seventh after the Tigers had narrowed the deficit in the previous two innings.

The Yankees are preparing for their seventh postseason encounter with the Cleveland franchise, and their second since the team adopted the Guardians name, following their victory in the 2022 ALDS in five games.

Cleveland, with a 2-4 record against the Yankees in the previous six series, will now become New York’s most frequent American League playoff opponent, surpassing the Minnesota Twins. The Guardians are also tied as the Yankees’ second-most common postseason adversary overall, alongside the San Francisco Giants.

This will mark the second ALCS confrontation between New York and Cleveland, with the Yankees winning the previous matchup in six games during their 1998 World Series title run. The then-Indians surprisingly took a 2-1 series lead before losing the final three games, starting with a standout performance from Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez in Game 4.

This year, the Yankees won four of their six meetings against Cleveland, taking two series at both Yankee Stadium and Progressive Field. They began with a doubleheader sweep on April 13 in Cleveland and then won the final two games on August 21-22 in The Bronx by a combined score of 14-1.

According to Bryan Hoch of *MLB.com*, the Yankees have not yet announced a starter for Monday’s opener, but Gerrit Cole (1-0, 3.00 ERA this postseason) is expected to pitch Game 2 on Tuesday. Cole last faced the Guardians on August 22, where he threw six shutout innings, allowing only one hit and walking five in a 6-0 victory.