They took the scenic route, but the Pinstripes got there in the end. After a rain delay yesterday, the New York Yankees have finally kicked aside the Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS as they handedly won Game 5, thus setting up a revenge series against the Houston Astros in the ALCS.
It’s about time the Yankees put the Guardians down.
I feel like this divisional series has been going on forever, given the back and forth wins between the teams and the two rain delays that pushed the series into late October. Already, the Padres and the Phillies have begun their NLCS, while the Astros have been waiting since October 15th, which was when they completed their sweep of the Seattle Mariners, to face this series winner.
It was past time the Yankees showed up and closed out the Guardians, and it’s even better that their big hitters finally came to play as well.
All series long, the Yankees fans have been crying out for their sluggish sluggers, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Glebyer Torres, Anthony Rizzo, and Josh Donaldson, to punish the Cleveland dugout and get some hits on the board.
Even though the Yankees won 4-2 in Game 4, they only had 6 hits (1 of those being HRs), which is obviously not good enough for a team looking to end a 13-year World Series drought.
So, did the Yankees rack up the hits and burn the Guardians pitchers in this win? Well, no, not really.
The Yankees only managed to follow up the six hits of last game with six in this game as two of them being home runs.
Therefore, the Pinstripes only got on base 4 times due to their hitting prowess, while the Guardians got on base 8 times on 8 hits. New York really is lucky that their pitching was exquisite or else this game could have gone in a completely different direction.
Nonetheless, the only positive to take from the Yankees offense tonight was the fact Aaron Judge continued his hot streak as he put another ball into the stands, while Giancarlo Stanton broke his drought and finally got his second home run of the postseason.
That 3-run homerun from Stanton in the 1st not only clinched this series for New York, but also will do his confidence a lot of good. Along with Harrison Bader, Torres, and Judge, the Yankees will desperately need Stanton these guys to match the high-powered Astros offense.
Otherwise, they don’t stand a chance of winning two games.
Finally, how about Nestor Cortez? He had himself a game on the mound as he posted a fantastic 2.70 ERA, had 2 strikeouts, pitched for 5 innings, only had two walks, and only one run scored for his first win of the postseason.
Just as how Shane Bieber and the Guardians pitchers stifled the Yanks early on, New York’s own decided to up the ante these last two games.
Funnily enough, New York didn’t even need Gerritt Cole tonight. That’s how good the Yankees bullpen was.
As for the Guardians, they shouldn’t feel too bad about this loss. They were never supposed to beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the Wild Card, let alone take the Yankees to 5 games. They should be proud of their accomplishments this season, though I do wonder why Shane Bieber wasn’t played since October 14th.
Is he hurt and I don’t know about it? If he wasn’t injured, then not playing him cost the Guardians this series. He was lights out in Game 2.
Anyway, the Yankees now go marching on to the ALCS again as their archnemesis of recent postseason memory awaits them. Can they finally overcome the Astros and reach the World Series for the first time in 13 years?
I doubt it, but anything’s possible.
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