Indians, Yankees ready to face off
CLEVELAND — They ran away with their division again, and streaked to history, 102 wins and home-field advantage throughout the AL playoffs. The Cleveland Indians have had a special season.
A new one, the only one, is about to begin.
Heartbroken after coming up a little short last year against the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland figured to make it to October for another swing at ending a World Series drought stretching to 1948.
The Indians are back, but there’s now a 6-foot-7, 280-pound baseball-bashing behemoth standing in their way. Behold Aaron Judge. On the same field where their magical 2016 postseason ended on Nov. 2 in a light rain and extra innings, the Indians will open the division series tonight against Judge and the New York Yankees, who rallied to beat the Minnesota Twins in the wild-card game.
Unaffected by a larger stage, Judge hit a two-run homer in his playoff debut as the Yankees overcame a 3-0 deficit in the first inning and won their first postseason game in five years to earn a best-of-five matchup against the defending AL champions — and the team favored to win it all.
“We’re not done yet,” Judge said after the 8-4 win at Yankee Stadium. “We’ve just got to keep it rolling in Cleveland.”
And while fans across the country are excited about watching the colossal Judge, who blasted 52 homers as a rookie and seems to hit the ball hard every time he’s up, face Indians ace Corey Kluber and baseball’s deepest pitching staff, Cleveland manager Terry Francona isn’t as thrilled.
“He’s good for Major League Baseball,” Francona said of Judge. “He’s bad for the teams you’re playing against.”
ASTROS-RED SOX: Houston manager A.J. Hinch loves that Justin Verlander, his starter for Game 1 of the American League Division Series against Boston today, has a ton of postseason experience.
Hinch, however, is still plenty concerned about Red Sox starter Chris Sale despite this being his playoff debut.
“I don’t think Sale is going to back down,” Hinch said. “I don’t think he’ll be spooked by not having experience.”
After eight years in the majors, Sale said that finally getting a chance to pitch in the postseason is “pretty fulfilling.” But he’s trying to control his emotions about the opportunity.
“It’s going to be hard not to, but try not to put too much emphasis on it,” he said. “Just try to treat this just like another game. You get a little amped up sometimes and that can kind of go crazy.”
Verlander is a six-time All Star who has appeared in the playoffs five times. He is 7-5 with a 3.39 ERA and 112 strikeouts in 16 career postseason starts, but hasn’t been there since 2014. He believes there is an advantage to having playoff experience, but no matter how many times he’s done it, he still deals with jitters when he takes the mound in a game that means so much.
“I definitely think there is some value in it … just more along the lines of knowing what to expect,” he said.
CUBS: Kyle Hendricks is the Game 1 starter for the defending World Series champions.
Hendricks gets the ball Friday night when Chicago visits Washington for the opener of their NL Division Series. He also started its previous postseason game, helping the Cubs win in Cleveland in Game 7 for their first championship since 1908.
“Excited to get out there,” Hendricks said Wednesday. “You’re going to have a little bit of butterflies for sure, but I think it’s just that excited feeling. This is what you live for. This is the time of year that you want to be playing and we’re ready for it.” RANGERS: Prince Fielder has been released by Texas, more than 15 months after playing his last game and still owed about $72 million over the next three seasons. The Rangers reached a settlement with the company that insured the contract. ANGELS: Hitting coach Dave Hansen will not return next season.