The Yankees won Game 1 against Shane Bieber and the Indians and it was never even close.
The Yankees’ offense took Shane Bieber out of Game 1 and Gerrit Cole took the Indians’ offense out of Game 1. Most importantly, the Yankees’ offense and Cole took Aaron Boone out of Game 1 in what was an easy 12-3 win in the best-of-3.
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I spent the 2020 regular season fearing a best-of-3 against the Indians. I wanted no part of Shane Bieber. I spent a lot of time worrying about Bieber and the Indians for no reason.
I spent the 2020 regular season fearing a best-of-3 against the Indians. I wanted no part of Shane Bieber and the rest of the Cleveland rotation. I envisioned the Triple Crown-winning pitcher shutting down the Yankees in Game 1 of a best-of-3 and pushing them to the brink of elimination after one game. I spent a lot of time worrying about Bieber and the Indians for no reason.
When DJ LeMahieu hit Bieber’s third pitch of the game the other way for a single, I felt good. For two months, I constantly kept an eye on the Indians’ place in the standings, worrying about Bieber in a game like Tuesday’s, thinking he might be the right-handed Cliff Lee with his control and shutting the Yankees down the same way Lee did. LeMahieu’s leadoff single gave me immediate confidence.
When Aaron Judge hit Bieber’s fourth pitch over the fence, I thought the game was over. Bieber hadn’t experienced adversity on the mound all season and has experienced limited adversity in his career. His expression after Judge set the tone was that of someone who had only known dominating and who never expected for a second he wouldn’t once again dominate on Tuesday. It was very reminiscent of the way the Yankees knocked around Corey Kluber on the same field three years ago in a season in which he led the league in wins, ERA and WHIP and won the Cy Young award.
The Yankees couldn’t have started the postseason and a best-of-3 series any better. Even in an ideal world where I could write the script for how a Yankees postseason game would play out, I wouldn’t have been able to write up the way Game 1 played out. It was too perfect. Four pitches into the game, the Yankees had a two-run lead, and they kept tacking on to their lead, something they failed to do all regular season. They added a run in the third, two in the fourth, another two in the fifth, four in the seventh and one in the ninth. They rocked baseball’s best regular-season pitcher, putting 11 runners on base in 4 2/3 innings against him and forcing the Indians’ bullpen to get 13 outs. They received production from the entire lineup as every starter other than Kyle Higashioka scored a run and every starter other than Aaron Hicks recorded a hit. Gerrit Cole gave the Yankees seven remarkable innings (7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 13 K, 1 HR) and the Yankees were able to get the final six outs from Luis Cessa, winning a postseason game without having to use any of their top relievers. Too perfect.
It’s been a long time since the Yankees went into a postseason series having a No. 1 starter who could go toe-to-toe with their opponent’s No. 1 starter. Last season, they couldn’t match Cole or Justin Verlander. In 2018, they couldn’t match Chris Sale. In 2017, they couldn’t match Verlander. Now it’s different. Now they have Cole, and while Bieber had the better season, Cole proved he is more able to rise to the occasion, turning his ability up to another octave with the stakes as high as he commented on them being. Cole was outstanding, striking out 13 Indians over seven innings and never for a moment did it seem as though the Indians might actually get to him. He gave the Yankees length, protected their early two-run lead and prevented Aaron Boone from having to think and kept Adam Ottavino, Chad Green, Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman in the bullpen. Cole did what an ace with his reputation is supposed to do in October.
Yes, I vehemently disagreed with the Yankees’ Game 1 lineup, and while it worked out, I still wouldn’t use it in Game 2, but the Yankees will. Over the last few weeks, I said if Clint Frazier wasn’t going to be in the postseason lineup then I would actively root against the Yankees as hard as I always root for them. I refrained from taking that drastic measure on Tuesday night and never really had to question the Yankees’ lineup decisions because Judge gave the team an early lead, Gleyber Torres extended that lead and Cole did exactly what he was supposed to do for seven innings.
The result of the game doesn’t change the fact that Hicks shouldn’t be batting third, Brett Gardner shouldn’t be in the lineup over Clint Frazier and Kyle Higashioka shouldn’t be playing over Gary Sanchez.
Hicks had two walks and two strikeouts in the game. He reached base in two of his five plate appearances by the only way he knows how to reach base. It’s nice that Hicks scored two runs off his walks, but it’s not like he had to work for those walks. In both of the plate appearances resulting in walks, Hicks didn’t make contact on any swing. He didn’t even need to go up to the plate with a bat because four balls were thrown before three strikes, not because he fouled off good pitches or grinded out and won a 10-pitch at-bat. He was fortunate that Bieber’s impeccable control was off and that Adam Cimber isn’t any good.
Gardner didn’t deserve to play. He didn’t earn it. For a player whose entire career has been a collection of only extremely hot and extremely cold streaks with no consistency, Gardner’s hot streak to end the season somehow trumped everything Frazier had done for the Yankees this season. Ironically, Boone and the Yankees have admittedly said they don’t believe in players getting “hot” and they don’t believe in hot streaks, but Gardner was only in the lineup on Tuesday because of his most recent hot streak. Gardner was able to hit an opposite-field double off Bieber for his biggest Yankees moment since his single off Cody Allen in Game 5 of the 2017 ALDS, and he did add a two-run home run off Cimber, who isn’t very good, and even added a single off Oliver Perez, who is somehow still in the league. If Boone and the Yankees were willing to start Gardner against Bieber, it would have made no sense for them to then not start him for this entire series since the Indians would only be using right-handed starting pitchers. It would have made no sense for the Yankees to replace Gardner with Frazier in Game 2 given their decision in Game 1, but I truly think they were going to play Frazier in Game 2 until Gardner’s Game 1 performance. Now Gardner will be the starting left fielder against all right-handed starting pitchers this postseason.
The Yankees’ lineup worked out in Game 1 because the team’s stars played like stars in the game, not because of the decisions the Yankees made. Game 1 was was relaxing and enjoyable, a rare combination for a postseason game. What made it even more relaxting and enjoyable was that Boone never had to insert himself into the game. The Yankees’ offense and Cole took Boone completely out of the game, and kept him the dugout, chewing his gum and adjusting his mask. That’s where Boone needs to be and what he needs to be doing. The less Boone has to think and make decisions in high-leverage situations, the better off the Yankees will be. Inevitably, there will come a time this postseason when Boone will have a say on the outcome, and hopefully when the time comes, he will make the right decision.
The Yankees now have to go just 1-1 in two games against an Indians team that has already used and wasted their best card in order to advance to the ALDS. The Yankees have a completely rested bullpen and an offense coming off the team’s most impressive postseason offensive performance since Game 1 of the 2019 ALCS. They are set up as perfectly as any Yankees fan could dream of for Game 2 and they will be giving the ball to postseason legend Masahiro Tanaka on Wednesday night to end the series.
No Yankees fan could ask for a better pitcher in this situation with a chance for the Yankees to advance to the ALDS and into the bubble than Tanaka. I have complete faith and trust in Tanaka. He has never let the Yankees down in a postseason start, and I don’t expect him to in Game 2.
In what will be a rematch of Game 3 of the 2017 ALDS between Tanaka and Carlos Carrasco, the one thing that worries me is that Tanaka hasn’t given the Yankees much length this season and they haven’t let him give them much length this season. There’s a good chance Tanaka pitches as well as he always does in October for five innings and then Boone starts to decide how to get the last 12 outs. Boone will be quick to turn to his bullpen in this game with them being rested and a chance to close out the series and then four days off before the ALDS. I expect Tanaka to have it on Wednesday. Asking four relievers to all have it on the same night is a lot harder to expect.
One down, 12 to go.
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The Yankees didn’t do much right in the four games against the Blue Jays this week. Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.
The Yankees didn’t do much right in the four games against the Blue Jays this week, and because of it, they went 1-3 and allowed the Blue Jays to clinch a postseason berth.
Last season, I wrote the Off Day Dreaming blogs on every off day, but this season there aren’t many off days. There aren’t many games. So instead, I have decided to use the Off Day Dreaming format following each series. Yankees Thoughts will be posted after each series this season.
Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.
1. The Yankees never tried or cared to have home-field advantage this postseason, the way they haven’t for any season for a long time now, and they won’t have it. The Yankees will have to go on the road for the best-of-3 wild-card series, and they will have to win two games on the road in order to reach the division series and get into the bubble.
“I do know that if we’re playing at our best, I don’t give a crap where it is,” Aaron Boone said. “We’ll get it rolling.”
It’s nice Boone doesn’t give a crap where the Yankees will have to play next week. Unfortunately, the Yankees play like crap when they’re not at home. The Yankees are 21-7 (.750) at home this season and finished 11-18 (.379) on the road. Last season, the Yankees went 57-24 (.701) at home and 46-35 (.568) on the road. Since 2017, the Yankees are 10-4 (.714) at home in the postseason and 4-9 (.308) on the road. It would have been nice if the Yankees gave a crap about where they would be playing the best-of-3.
2. If the Yankees don’t survive the best-of-3, you better believe they should be heavily criticized for not doing everything they could to win home-field advantage for it. No team will have an advantage in the bubble with the games being played at neutral sites, but the advantage in the best-of-3 is enormous. The Yankees should always put themselves in the best possible position to maximize their chances of winning in the postseason. If you’re the Blue Jays and you have a team full of first- and second-year players who just clinched a playoff berth for only the third time since 1993, then you could care less about what seed you are and where you’re playing. You’re just happy you got in. But when you have the highest payroll in baseball, have spent billions of dollars to not win anything in going on 11 years and are in a championship window, you should care where you’re playing in October. You should care about doing every single you can to win in October.
3. It’s been hard to care about the outcome of these last few games since it’s evident the Yankees don’t care. Starting Michael King was the obvious sign they didn’t care if they won or lost to the Blue Jays. If you thought the Yankees cared, their sloppy play in the field and lack of offense over the last two nights should have changed your mind. The Yankees don’t believe in being hot. They will never admit it, however, they firmly believe they can flip their level of play on and off like a switch. People like to cite the 2000 Yankees for slogging their way through September only to then win their third straight World Series and fourth in five years. The difference is that team was going for their third straight championship. They already knew how to win. They knew what it took to be the last team standing in October. Aside from Brett Gardner, this team and this manager have never won anything.
4. I believe you have to lose before you can win. Most championship teams endured some sort of crushing postseason defeat before overcoming it to win a championship. The Yankees have endured that losing. They lost Games 6 and 7 of the 2017 ALCS after having a 3-2 series lead. They were run out of their own building by their rival in the 2018 ALDS. They came back to tie Game 6 the 2019 ALCS in improbable fashion in the top of the ninth inning, only to have their heart ripped out in the bottom of the ninth inning. They have experienced the type of heartbreaking losses usually followed by success. Now it’s time to take the next step forward and actually experience that success. Without it, they will be nothing more than what the Dodgers have been since 2013.
5. I have written about it in blogs and have talked about it on the podcast: Deivi Garcia needs to start Game 3. It’s the right call. It’s the only call. Garcia is much more likely to go out and shut a team down than J.A. Happ is. If Happ’s location is off by even an inch, he will get rocked. He doesn’t have the stuff or arsenal of Garcia to miss bats and keep hitters off balance if he isn’t perfect. Happ won’t be able to figure it out on the mind and grind through a postseason start because his stuff has eroded to the point that if he isn’t living on the corners with every pitch, batters either walk or hit home runs off him. He can’t be starting a potential must-win game next Thursday.
6. If Gerrit Cole needs a personal catcher, he isn’t who I thought he was. No pitcher should ever need a personal catcher, let alone one of Cole’s status. But Cole now has that personal catcher in Kyle Higashioka and the duo will appear together in Game 1 on Tuesday. I don’t know how the Yankees’ analytics team could have possibly signed off on this decision, in what is yet another decision I can’t believe they have signed off on. Maybe the analytics department isn’t as influential in the team’s decisions as they are thought to be? With no days off in each postseason series, it was highly unlikely Gary Sanchez was going to be able to catch and play in every postseason game. But to not have him paired with Cole because Cole couldn’t beat the Rays and get Ji-Man Choi out is an embarrassment for Cole. The Yankees are setting an unnecessary precedent by using Higashioka over Sanchez and by Boone also saying this week that Higashioka could play more than just when Cole is pitching. One day the Yankees will make decisions that make the most sense. That day won’t be in 2020. Let’s hope it doesn’t come them another year of their championship window.
7. I wanted Michael Brantley over Gardner after 2018. Once Gardner hit 28 home runs with the super baseball in 2019, he was going to come back in 2020. Now I actually want Gardner back in 2021. I want him back if it’s between either Gardner or Mike Tauchman for a roster spot. I’m all set with Tauchman. The outfield for 2021 should be Clint Frazier, Aaron Hicks and Aaron Judge. It’s obvious the Yankees are never going to let Giancarlo Stanton play the outfield again. They weren’t going to let him play it this season and that was before he had another lengthy stay on the injured list. Next year, he will be a year older and even more likely to get injured (if he can even be more likely to get injured than he already is), and there’s no way he will anything other than a designated hitter in 2021. Give me Frazier, Hicks, Judge and Gardner as the four outfielders next season.
8. It’s looking like the Yankees are going to play the White Sox next week, and I’m more than fine with it. The White Sox’ lineup boasts arguably the most power in the league, but it also boasts a group of free-swinging, right-handed bats who don’t walk. The Yankees can use three right-handed starters in Cole, Masahiro Tanaka and Garcia against them, and overpower them with Chad Green and Adam Ottavino in the later innings. Yes, the Yankees can lose to the White Sox, as they can lose to any team (even possibly the Red Sox) in a best-of-3, though when healthy, the Yankees are the better team with the better lineup, rotation and bullpen.
9. I can’t believe there are only three games left in this 60-game season. It seems like only minutes ago I was settling in to watch Cole against the Nationals on Opening Night and now the regular season will be over on Sunday night. If things go badly in the best-of-3, the entire season could be over by Tuesday night or Wednesday night. I’m not ready to not have baseball. We didn’t have it for more than nine months and now we are very close to not having it again for at least another six. Who’s to say the 2021 season will start on time? As of now, there’s no indication fans will be back at games by Opening Day 2021, and if that’s the case, the owners have proven they won’t allow a full season without fans in the stands. I need another month of Yankees baseball. Not only because it will mean they will have advanced to the World Series for the first time in 11 years, but because I’m not ready for it to go away again.
10. Monday will be the last regular-season Yankees Thoughts of the season. There will be a Thoughts blog after every postseason game, the way there is each year, and the podcast will continue each day for as long as the Yankees remain in the postseason. I will miss writing the Yankees Thoughts blogs after each series when the offseason comes. Thank you for reading the Yankees Thoughts blogs this season.
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Subscribe to the Keefe To The City Podcast. New episodes after every game throughout the season.
***
My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!
The Yankees keep talking about how they are trying to win home-field advantage for the best-of-3 series, but they’re clearly not trying their hardest.
The Yankees keep talking about how they are trying to win home-field advantage for the best-of-3 series, but they’re clearly not trying their hardest. If they were, why was Michael King starting or opening on Monday night against the Blue Jays? It was a perfect opportunity to give Clarke Schmidt his first major league start, and instead, the Yankees went with the guy who has pitched a combined 14 innings over four starts/opens this season with an 8.36 ERA.
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Subscribe to the Keefe To The City Podcast. New episodes after every game throughout the season.
***
My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!
The Yankees are headed to the postseason and can use the last week of the regular season to set up and plan for it.
The Yankees are going to the postseason. It’s something we have known since Opening Day when it was announced the postseason field would be expanded to eight teams. Now it’s official and the Yankees can use the last seven games of the regular season to get ready for October.
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Subscribe to the Keefe To The City Podcast. New episodes after every game throughout the season.
***
My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!