The Yankees Advance to the ALCS After Hard Fought Battle With Cleveland

The New York Yankees started the 2022 Postseason with their division series matchup against the Cleveland Guardians. Gerrit Cole got the start for game one at Yankee Stadium. The Guardians took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the third when Steven Kwan hit a solo home run. The Yankees tied it back up in the bottom of the third when Harrison Bader hit a clutch solo homer for his first home run as a Yankee. He is the first player in Yankees history to have his first homer with the franchise be in the playoffs. The Yankees took the lead in the fifth when Jose Trevino hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1. The Yankeed added to their lead in the sixth when Anthony Rizzo hit a high fly ball deep into the Bronx night. The two run homer landed in the upper deck and made it a 4-1 game. Gerrit Cole turned in an absolutely dominant outing for the Yankees. All season long he was hearing a lot of chatter about his failure in the Wild Card game in Boston last year. He silenced the haters and dealed for the Yanks in game one of the division series. He threw 6.1 innings with one earned run and eight strikeouts. He left the ballgame to a loud Yankee Stadium ovation one out into the seventh inning. Jonathan Loaisiga got the final two outs of the inning. Wandy Peralta came in and threw 1.1 scoreless, and Clay Holmes came in and got the last two outs of the game. The Yankees took game one in a relatively stress free baseball game. The Yankees offense pushed across four runs, but the MVP of this game was Gerrit Cole.

Game two of the series was pushed back one day due to rain, so this game was played at 1PM. Nestor Cortes Jr got the start for the Yankees. He faced off against the dangerous Shane Beiber. The Yankees got an early 2-0 lead when Giancarlo Staton blasted a two run homer in the bottom of the first. Stanton continues to amaze in the postseason. The Guardians came striking back in the fourth inning when Andres Gimenzez hit an RBI single to make it 2-1. The game was tied up in the fifth when Ahmed Rosario hit a solo homer. Nestor was pulled after five innings with two earned runs, three walks, and three strikeouts. Nestor battled in this outing. He did not have his best stuff, and he was searching through this whole appearance. He did fight and show some grit in this outing though. Lou Trivino got the first two outs of the sixth, and Jonathan Loasisiga got the final out of the inning. He then went back out and tossed a scoreless seventh. Loaisiga got the first out of the eighth as well, and Wandy Peralta finished the eighth. He then came back out for the ninth and got the first out. Clay Holmes then came in and got the Yankees out of the ninth and kept it a tie game. On the other side of the ball the Yankees were being shut down. They were kept at bay after the Stanton homer by Beiber and the bullpen. The offense went completely quiet after the first, so this game headed to extra innings. Jameson Taillon started the tenth inning for the Yankees. Jose Ramirez hit a bloop single to left that just barely dropped in. He headed for second, and Donaldson made a wild throw allowing Ramirez to make it all the way to third. Oscar Gonzalez then hit a go ahead RBI single, and Josh Naylor ripped an RBI double after that to make it 4-2 Guardians. Taillon was pulled after not recording an out, and Clarke Schmidt came in. Many people were confused as to why Aaron Boone chose to go to Taillon to start the inning over Schmidt. Taillon has never come out of the bullpen, and Schmidt is very used to coming out of the pen, so the entire scene was head scratching. Another option would have been to go to Domingo German who has some experience coming out of the pen. It seems the Yankees had their heart set on using Jamo out of the bullpen, and they used him unnecessarily. The Yankees did not make a run in the bottom of the inning, so they dropped game two by a score of 4-2. This was a brutal loss, and the Yankees then headed to Cleveland for games three and four.

Luis Severino got the start for the Yankee in game three in Cleveland. Sevrino got off to a rough start as he gave up an RBI single to Josh Naylor in the first inning. Steven Kwan made it 2-0 in the second as Severino continued to struggle. Domingo German started warming up in the pen, and it was not looking good for Severino. The Yankees showed some fight in the third when the struggling Aaron Judge silenced the critics and blasted a huge two run game tying home run. One of the topics of discussion entering the game was that Aaron Judge was hitless in the first two games. Judge put that to be real fast with this clutch homer. Sevy went back out for the third and tossed a nice quick inning. He did the same for the fourth. The Yankees took the lead in the fifth when Oswaldo Cabrera smoked a huge two run homer to give the Yanks a 4-2 lead. Waldo had a legendary bat flip on this bomb as well. Severino left the game after 5.2 innings. He gave the Yanks a tremendous effort after his rough start. He kept the Yankees in the ballgame, and showed some real toughness. Lou Trivino came on, but he gave up an RBI single to Will Brennan. That run went to Severino so he finished with three earned runs.​​ The Yankees got that run back in the seventh when Harrison Bader blasted another home run and made it 5-3. Bader is looking like he’s got a knack for October. Jonathan Loaisiga came on and got the first two outs of the seventh. He was questionably pulled after a dribbler single. Wandy got the final out of the inning, and then tossed a scoreless eighth. The Yankees headed into the ninth with a 5-3 lead. Wandy headed back out for the ninth. The Guardians got two bloop hits to make it first and third with one out. Wandy was pulled and Clarke Schmidt came on to close this out for the Yankees. He gave up an RBI single to Ahmed Rosario to make it a one run game. Jose Ramirez then hit yet another bloop single to load the bases. Schmidt picked up a huge bases loaded K on Josh Naylor, and Oscar Gonzalez then stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded two outs down by one run with a chance to walk it off. On a 1-2 count Gonzalez ripped a base hit up the middle and the Guardians scored two on the play to win it. The Yankees dropped an utterly brutal loss by a score of 6-5. This was one of the most shocking and depressing losses in recent memory. Many Yankees fans were bewildered as to why Clarke Schmidt was called upon instead of Clay Holmes. Especially since the Yankees did not trust Clarke enough to let him start the tenth inning in the previous game, but they trust him enough to close this game. Boone later said that Holmes would only be available in an emergency situation. If this did not classify as an emergency situation I don’t know what does. To make matters worse Holmes after the game said that he was not only ready to pitch, but he expected to come into this ballgame. So it was a disaster in Yankee land after this brutal game 3 loss to the Guardians.

The New York Yankees now had their backs against the wall. They were down 2-1 in this five game set against the Guardians. They had to win two straight games to advance, and Gerrit Cole was getting the start in this win or go home game in Cleveland. The Yankees desperately needed to get off to a hot start in this game. They did exactly that when Anthony Rizzo hit an RBI single in the first to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. The Yanks added to their lead in the second when Harrison Bader hit yet another bomb. This one was a two run shot to make it 3-0. Bader has been otherworldly in this series with his three homers, and he is instantly becoming a playoff hero. The Guardians got on the board in the third when Jose Ramirez hit yet another bloop single to score a run. These bloop singles have been killing the Yankees all series long. In the fourth Josh Naylor hit a solo homer to make it 3-2. The Yankees added a much needed insurance run in the sixth when Giancarlo Stanton hit a sac fly to make it 4-2. Gerrit Cole turned in a legacy outing for the Yanks. He was an absolute bulldog in this game. The Yanks had their backs against the wall in need of victory to continue their season. Gerrit Cole stepped up and delivered. He came through when the team needed him most and gave the Yanks seven dominant innings with two earned runs and eight strikeouts. The Yankees were in dire need of an ace performance, and Cole gave them just that. Any discussions as to whether Cole was a clutch postseason performer after last year's debacle have all been put to rest. Gerrit Cole shut the haters up and proved that he is a clutch postseason performer, and he’s the definition of an ace. Last year’s failure at Fenway is the outlier not the standard. Clay Holmes threw a shutout eighth inning, and Wandy Peralta came on for the ninth and picked up the save. The Yankees came through in the win or home game, and they forced a game five. They now get a chance to head back to the Bronx and try to advance to the ALCS.

The deciding game of this ALDS between the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians was supposed to be played on Monday night. Jameson Taillon was set to make the start for the New York Yankees. Due to rain the game was delayed to 4PM on Tuesday afternoon. Nestor Cortes Jr was now able to make the start because of the extra day’s rest. Nestor Cortes Jr got the start for the Yankees in this win or advance game five against the Guardians in the Bronx. Terry Francona controversially chose to start Aaron Civale instead of Shane Beiber on short rest. This proved to be a massive mistake as the Yankees tagged Civale and he did not make it through the first inning. Gleyber Torres started if off with a walk. Rizzo was hit by a pitch, and Giancarlo Stanton then blasted a three run home run to give the Yankees an early 3-0 lead. Giancarlo Stanton continues to be an absolute menace in the postseason. He is one of the most dominant playoff hitters of all time, and he continues to come up with big hit after big hit for the New York Yankees. This home run was gigantic as it got the Yankees off to a good start and set the tone for this deciding game. The Yankees would tag on another run in the second when Aaron Judge hit a solo home run of his own to make it 4-0. The Guardians got on the board in the third from a Jose Ramirez sac fly. Anthony Rizzo added another run for the Yankees in the fifth inning with an RBI single. Nestor was pulled after five innings with one earned run. Nestor gave the Yankees a terrific outing on three days' rest. His five innings in this game were absolutely huge. Jonathan Loaisiga then tossed scoreless sixth and seventh innings. Clay Holmes came out and threw a shutout eighth inning, and Wandy Peralta came in to close it out in the ninth. Wany became the first player in MLB history to pitch in all five games of a division series. And to nobody’s surprise Wandy closed it out for the Yankees.

This 5-1 victory allowed the Yankees to win the division series and move past the Cleveland Guardians. This series was not easy by any means, and it was highly stressful, but they got it done. The Yankees will now head to Houston to face off against the Astros. The Astros have been the Yankees’ nemesis in recent memory, and it’s time for the Yankees to get their revenge. The Yankees will play the Astros in their first playoff series since Jose Altuve ended our season in 2019, and since the Houston Astros cheating scandal became public. This is the Yankees chance to get their get back. This is the Yankees chance to get their revenge. We’ve said it all season, the AL title goes through Houston. Now here we are. It’s time. Let’s go Yankees!

By : Riley Briggs