Yankees vs. Indians ALWC Game Two Preview For 9/30/2020

Sep 30, 2020 - 11:54 AM ET

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After yesterday’s destruction, New York comes into today’s matchup as 1.5 run favorites

What a great start for the Yankees yesterday. You can also say that this was an absolutely nightmare-ish start to the series for the Indians. In Game One of the AL Wild Card series, the New York Yankees defeated the Cleveland Indians 12-3 to take a 1-0 lead in the first round of the 2020 MLB playoffs. Now, the Yankees need just one more win over the next two days to advance to the ALDS. I think the Yanks will be able to quickly take care of the Indians today just like they did yesterday.

I don’t think anybody could have predicted that the Yankees would play so well against the best pitcher in baseball. Coming into this matchup, I thought that Shane Bieber was the best pitcher in the Majors. I mean, the statistics supported this point! Instead, the Bronx Bombers made the 25-year-old AL Cy Young candidate look like a chump. Yesterday, Shane Bieber had his worst game of the season. The right-handed pitcher, who led all players in ERA and strikeouts during the regular season, surrendered SEVEN runs on nine hits as the Yanks torched the Cleveland Indians 12-3 for a victory in game one of the AL Wild Card round. This one was a disaster from the get-go for Cleveland. DJ LeMahieu was able to get a lead-off single to start the game. After that, Aaron Judge homered on the very next pitch to put the Yanks up 2-0 in the first inning. That homer was the first one given up by Shane Bieber in a home game this year. Things only got worse from there for Cleveland. The Yankees would score 10 more runs in the game to give the team the eventual 12-3 victory. With Shane Bieber likely out of commission for the remainder of the series, I don’t see how the Indians can possibly pull this thing off.

Yesterday, the Indians were being cruelly mocked by Murphy’s Law: anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Shane Bieber was awful, pitching for only 4.2 innings and finishing the game with an ERA of 13.5. The relief pitchers that came in for Cleveland weren’t much better. Adam Cimber eventually took the mound and allowed the Yanks to score two more runs after throwing just 19 pitches. Cimber was soon relieved by Cameron Hill, but Hill also allowed two more scores for the Yanks. By then New York had recorded 11 runs, and the game was essentially over. I am expecting today’s result to be similar to yesterday’s. The score may not be as high, but I expect the Yankees to get off to a fast start.

Tonight’s game will feature a very interesting pitching matchup between Masahiro Tanaka and Carlos Carrasco. These guys look like opposite images of one another. Tanaka has played in eight postseason games in his career and has 46 innings pitched as well as five wins to show for it. On the other side, Carlos Carrasco enters tonight’s contest with only two postseason appearances and just 11 innings pitched. Carrasco did have an excellent performance against the Pinstripes in the past, striking out seven batters and allowing zero runs, but the Yankees would still end up winning the game 1-0. Regardless, that game was almost three years ago. The complexion of this Yankees team is completely different now. I fear that the 33-year-old righty does not have enough stuff to make it through this game cleanly. I think he will do well, but I still worry he will allow two or three runs in the first four innings of the game, which could put the Indians in a hole that is impossible to climb out of. Masahiro Tanaka isn’t amazing, but he only allowed four earned runs in 16 innings pitched last postseason. I think Tanaka should be slightly favored going into this game.

If anything, yesterday proved the point I was trying to make: the Yankees are good at hitting while the Indians are not. It doesn’t matter how good your pitching is if your team cannot generate enough offense to compete with your opponents. New York was able to torch the player that was (statistically-speaking) the best pitcher in baseball. The team finished the day with 15 hits for 12 runs on 41 plate appearances. That comes out to a 0.293 batting average. For comparison, the New York Mets led all teams in regular-season batting average with a BA of 0.272. Meanwhile, the Indians were able to create some offense, but the reality was that yesterday’s game was never close. The Yanks simply have too much offense for Cleveland to handle over a three-game series. Over the entire, 60-game season, the Pinstripes averaged 5.25 runs per game. The Indians only averaged 4.13 runs per game during the regular season. I told you guys that Cleveland’s scoring was going to be a problem because they cannot go toe-to-toe with the Yankees. I think the Bronx Bombers take care of business again today in a closer contest and advance to the ALDS.

Yankees 8 – Indians 5