THE MATCHUPS
CLEVELAND — The Indians arrived in the Bronx on Aug. 28 modest winners of four straight games, before a three-game sweep of the Yankees continued them on their path to a whopping 22 victories in a row to run away with the AL Central title for the second straight season.
Terry Francona's deep, pitching-rich club fully appears to be steamrolling toward a return to the World Series after dropping a seven-game battle to the Cubs last fall, still looking to end their own championship drought that has endured since 1954.
It may be true that rookie superstar Aaron Judge and the Yankees are playing with house money after their accelerated transition year resulted in a 91-win season and an unorthodox wild-card victory on Tuesday night against the Twins, but the reason they call it that is because the payoff can be astronomical when you have little to lose.
Here is a position-by-position breakdown for the best-of-five AL division series between the Yankees and the Indians:
CATCHER
Panic averted, everyone. Gary Sanchez made it through the wild-card game without committing any passed balls, and the All-Star backstop insists he is OK physically after playing out Tuesday’s win over the Twins despite getting clipped in the groin by a Brian Dozier foul tip in the sixth inning. The Kraken also cracked a single and a double in his first career postseason appearance.
Yan Gomes has respectable power and an even better success rate than the strongarmed Sanchez (38 percent) at throwing out potential base stealers, nailing 24 of 57 this season (42.1 percent). But backup Roberto Perez is likely to start Game 1 with surprise starter Trevor Bauer on the mound.
FIRST BASE
Greg Bird also provided a key hit against Minnesota, rapping a two-out RBI single to right against Jose Berrios to give the Yanks a 5-4 lead in the third, an advantage the Yanks would not relinquish. Bird also struck out against lefty Taylor Rogers with the bases loaded in the seventh, but Joe Girardi letting him hit in that spot - rather than using veteran righty bats Matt Holliday or Chase Headley - shows that Bird has regained the trust of his manager with a productive final month after four months on the DL with an ankle injury that required surgery. Carlos Santana may not always be so smooth around the bag, but the converted catcher can still be a hot one at the plate, averaging 24 homers and 81 RBI over the past seven seasons (23-79 this year).
SECOND BASE
Castro had an underrated year at the plate when healthy, batting .300 for the first time since 2011 with a career-best .792 OPS to make his fourth All-Star team (and first with the Yanks) despite spending
two lengthy stints on the DL with hamstring problems.
Jose Ramirez is a deserving top-5 candidate for AL MVP this season, switching from third base back to his natural position when injuries arose. He finished the year with a league-leading 92 extra-base hits, including 56 doubles and 29 home runs for a .957 OPS.
SHORTSTOP
There must be something about Yankee shortstops and October. Derek Jeter’s replacement, Didi Gregorius, managed the biggest hit of the season to date on Tuesday night, ripping a game-tying three-run homer in the bottom of the first inning after Luis Severino imploded and spotted the Twins three runs in the top half. Gregorius also has been consistent and often flashy with the glove, likely making this the marquee positional matchup of the series.
That’s true because Indians counterpart Francisco Lindor also is a rising star at 23, more than doubling last year’s home run total to belt 33 with 15 steals and an .842 OPS. He also lowered his error total to 10 from the dozen he committed last season, when he earned his first career Gold Glove award.
THIRD BASE
Jersey product and “thumbs-down” mantra man Todd Frazier supplanted Chase Headley here following his acquisition just before the trade deadline, providing improved range and glove work at the position. He also chipped in more righthanded power, despite a typically low .213 overall batting average.
Scouts view Giovanny Urshela as a defensive standout, but he’s barely hit at this level — .225 with a .587 OPS in two big-league seasons. Utility infielder Erik Gonzalez also will be on the roster ahead of Yandy Diaz, in case manager Terry Francona decides to pinch-hit for Urshela late in games.
LEFT FIELD
Longtime sparkplug Brett Gardner, the only holdover among position players from the Yanks’ 2009 World Series squad, ripped a go-ahead homer in the second inning and scored twice more on Tuesday night against the Twins.
Former Yanks prospect Austin Jackson, now an eight-year veteran, has done a solid job filling in at all three outfield spots this season with a .318/.387/.482 slash line over 85 games.
CENTER FIELD
Aaron Hicks got the start in the wild-card game over the resurgent Jacoby Ellsbury because of his better arm and athleticism, according to Girardi. But Ellsbury, who went 0-for4 as the DH, still figures to see some time with the glove during this series after a strong second half.
Jason Kipnis, a two-time All-Star second baseman, returned from the disabled list and switched to the outfield for 11 workable late-season appearances with Ramirez entrenched at his old spot. Kipnis will play over injury-riddled former MVP candidate Michael Brantley, who is expected to open the series as a pinch-hitter after being limited to 101 games the past two seasons due to multiple injuries.
RIGHT FIELD
Is anyone still worried that mighty rookie Aaron Judge might wilt on the October stage? The MVP candidate smashed 52 regular-season home runs before ripping a wall-scraping home run and scoring three times altogether in his first career postseason appearance. He was 4-for-14 with one homer in five games this season against the Tribe. Jay Bruce came to New York last summer with the aim of reaching the postseason, and after playing in the NL wild-card game with the Mets last fall, he now gets to face the Yanks following a deadline deal to Cleveland. The lefty slugger hit only seven of his career-high 36 homers in his 43 regular-season games with the Indians.
DESIGNATED HITTER
Ellsbury got the nod in the playoff opener, but Girardi also can turn to Hicks, Headley or Holliday, depending on the matchups. Notably, the Indians have only right-handed starters, which might relegate Holliday, who batted .220 vs. righties this year, to pinch-hitting duties.
Edwin Encarnacion was the Indians’ marquee addition following last year’s World Series run, signing him to a reasonable $60 million over three years. He has been among the most productive power bats in baseball over the past six years, averaging 39 homers and 110 RBI with a .907 OPS. In 2017 he belted 38 HRs drove in 107 and had an OPS of .881.
STARTING PITCHING
You never know how even the top starters in baseball will fare in postseason play, as evidenced most recently by firsttime ace Luis Severino’s disastrous one-out showing against the Twins. He at least was spared by the Yankees’ deep bats and deeper bullpen and will get another crack to expunge the memory of that short-lived experience during this series in Game 4, if there is one.
The Yanks traded away multiple prospects to obtain Sonny Gray from Oakland, and he is lined up to start the series opener. Former Indian CC Sabathia (14-5, 3.69) was moved up to start Game 2, earned by a bounce-back year in the final year of his contract. Masahiro Tanaka (13-12, 4.74) also has endured an up-and-down year, and the Yanks can’t be sure what to expect from him, either. He’s slated for Game 3 after a 15-strikeout game in his final tune-up of the season.
Francona pulled a surprise that could backfire in giving the ball to serviceable righty Trevor Bauer for Game 1, rather than Cy Young frontrunner Corey Kluber (184, 2.25), instead saving the latter for Games 2 and Game 5, if necessary. If not needed a second time, that would leave Kluber available for the opener of the ALCS, should the Indians advance. Bauer did go 9-1 with a 2.42 ERA over his final 13 starts, while Game 3 starter Carlos Carrasco finished 8-1 with a 1.82 ERA over his last 10 outings.
BULLPEN
The Yankees’ revamped relief corps was intended to be an invaluable strength at this time of year, but even the organizational brain trust couldn’t have envisioned Tuesday’s 82/3 innings of one-run ball to advance past the wild-card round. Inconsistent All-Star Dellin Betances never even warmed up while Chad Green, David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle and Aroldis Chapman combined for 26 outs.
Francona redefined and popularized this model for bullpen usage during last year’s postseason run, utilizing his top arms in high-leverage spots, regardless of which inning trouble arose. Former Yankee lefty Andrew Miller remains one of the most dangerous relief weapons in the game, able to thrive in multiple situations, and closer Cody Allen didn’t allow an earned run in 10 postseason appearances one year ago.
MANAGER
Girardi made the right call in quick-hooking Severino and did a masterful job of navigating through a trying situation with his bullpen thereafter to win the wild-card game. Further button-pressing with his relief corps, as well as any lineup hunches at DH or in center field, figure to play a pivotal role for the Yanks.
Francona, who set the new standard for creative bullpen usage last October, is seeking his third managerial ring. After a few encounters with Joe Torre’s Yanks while with Boston, this will be his first head-to-head matchup in the postseason play against Girardi.