American League Division Series: Yankees vs. Indians Preview/Predictions
Photos via The Athletic and Bleacher Report
It's game day baby!
The American League Division Series kicks off tonight at 7:30 ET, as the New York Yankees travel to Cleveland to take on the Indians in a best of five series. The game can be found on Fox Sports 1(FS1).
Sonny Gray and Trevor Bauer are on the rubber tonight for their respective teams.
I have some concerns heading into this game.
First off: our bullpen. Yes, I know. We have an amazing bullpen. However, considering three of their better bullpen pitchers are more than likely unavailable for the game (David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle, Chad Green) 2 of whom are definitely unavailable (Green and Robertson) leaves us with a lot of questions. Now they do still have Delin Betances, Aroldis Chapman, Adam Warren, they added Jamie Garcia to the bullpen as an emergency starter and I'm sure Kahnle can give us an inning if need be, but that is a very thin pitching lineup. We all know Betances has struggled with his command, as well as his consistency. Chapman has had the same problem with consistency, and while he did record all three outs in the Wild Card game, his command didn't really look like it was there. If the Yankees want to win this game, they're going to need Gray to go a MINIMUM of 6 innings, preferably 7, if they want a chance to win.
Speaking of Gray, he's also a concern for me. Since being traded to the Yankees, Gray is 4-7, with a 3.72 earned run average, while walking 27 and striking out only 59 batters. In the month of September, he really struggled, going 2-4 with a 4.58 ERA. Not to mention that, when pitching at Progressive Field, Gray is 0-2 with a 7.59 ERA, 5 BB's, 9 SO's in only 10.2 innings pitched. While he has pitched before in the postseason (2013) and had success doing so (2-0, 13 IP, 2.08 ERA, 6 BB, 12 SO) I have a hard time trusting him against this tough Cleveland lineup. Not to mention the Yankees don't seem to like to give him run support (Yanks have scored 0-1 runs in 5 of his 11 starts for the club).
My last concern is Trevor Bauer. Bauer faced the Yankees on two separate occasions this season, once at home and once in the Bronx. Bauer seemingly didn't seem to care where he pitched against them. Bauer went 2-0 against the Bronx Bombers, with a 1.38 ERA, 11 SO's, and 6 BB's in 13 innings pitched. The Yankees lineup averaged just .229 this year against Bauer, who has been nearly un-hittable since the all-star break.
If the Yankees can manage to get to Bauer early, and get his pitch count up, something the team has done very well all year long against starting pitchers, than I feel as though they can escape with a win tonight. However, I feel as though the Yankees will come up short in this game. Gray will start the game off solid, but the Indians will wear him down and get to him in the later innings.
Im taking the Indians in Game one of the series, 6-1.
