Circle The Wagons, Yankees Are Coming – Cleveland Indians vs. New York Yankees Wild Card Preview

The New York Yankees have had a long road this season. They have gone from looking like the best team in baseball to a cold, injury riddled mess and back again. With Sluggers Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge healthy and batting champ DJ LeMahieu heating up, the Yankees are looking to make a run.

The Cleveland Indians aren’t too far off from the Yankees. They too have had an up and down year that has seen them seemingly right the ship at the right time. With their own home run tandem in tow, Franmil Reyes and Jose Ramirez, the Tribe will be a tough contender to eliminate.

 

By the Numbers:

New York Yankees (33-27) Cleveland Indians (35-25)
94 Home runs (5) 59 Home runs (27)
.247 Batting Avg (14) .228 Batting Avg (23)
4.35 (14) 3.29 ERA (2)
.236 Opp Batting Avg (11) .223 Opp Batting Avg (4)

 

This series is offense versus defense, with the Indians’ bullpen having the advantage of being one of the best in the business. They will make the Yankees work for every hit and every base earned in this series.

The saving grace for the Yankees is their offense and the big-time batters they have throughout their rotation. If LeMahieu gets hot in this series, it can help the Yankees bullpen and distance this series before it gets out of hand.

 

Key Players:

Indians: Shane Bieber, Pitcher

2020 Stats: 8 wins – 1.63 ERA – 122 Strikeouts

Bieber is the best starting pitcher the Indians have and is the leader in that bullpen. He has to set the tone with his arm early.

 

Yankees: Luke Voit, First Baseman

2020 Stats: .227 BA – 22 HR – 52 RBI

Voit was key for the Yankees when Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton went down this season. They will need his bat to get hot again to make this a series.

 

Prediction:

Yankees over Indians

As much as I value pitching, I can’t see the Indians’ bullpen overcoming the Yankees loaded bats. I expect Stanton and Judge to have a great series and make life miserable for the Indians’ pitchers.

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