Indians wary of damage Yanks’ Judge can inflict
CLEVELAND — They ran away with their division again and streaked to history, 102 wins and home-field advantage throughout the American League playoffs.
The Indians have had a special season. Now a new one, the only one that matters, has begun.
Heartbroken after coming up short last year against the Cubs and prolonging a World Series drought that dates to 1948, the Indians are back for another try. But there’s 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 Nov. 2 in a light rain and extra innings, the Indians opened the division series Thursday night against Judge and the Yankees, who rallied to beat the Twins on Tuesday in the AL 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 were 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, Indians manager Terry Francona wasn’t as thrilled.
“He’s good for Major League Baseball,” Francona said of Judge. “He’s bad for the teams playing against (him).
“From all accounts, he’s a really special young man. I didn’t get a chance to meet him at the All-Star Game because I wasn’t there, but everybody came back raving about him as a person. I know if you throw in the wrong place, he’s going to hit it a long way.”
Francona took a gamble in the opener by starting Trevor Bauer, a 17-game winner during the regular season, instead of Kluber, who will start Game 2. Francona reasoned that in doing so he will have Kluber on regular rest again for Game 5 — if the series goes that far and there is no rain.
Bauer is well aware of the damage Judge can do, but he is just as focused on the rest of the Yankees’ lineup.
“You’ve got some youth in there with big power,” Bauer said. “You’ve got some veteran guys in there too (who) balance everything out. They can do a lot of different things offensively.”
So can the Indians, who won 32 of their last 37 and went 5-2 against the Yankees — all of which means nothing now.
“Everybody’s even,” Francona said. “It doesn’t matter who thinks somebody should win unless it’s the umpires. It’s going to be who plays the best.”