By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer
NEW YORK — Andrés Giménez is ready for the rowdy gauntlet of Yankee Stadium.
“It’s a mindset,” the Cleveland second baseman said through a translator ahead of Monday night’s American League Championship Series opener. “It’s just this sense of belief we can do it because we know we can play baseball the right way.”
In the ALCS for the first time since 2016, Cleveland sends Alex Cobb to the mound against the Yankees’ Carlos Rodón in the start of the best-of-seven matchup for a World Series berth against the Dodgers or the New York Mets.
Cleveland seeks its seventh AL pennant and first since 2016, trying to win its third World Series championship after 1920 and 1948. The Yankees are trying for their 41st pennant and 28th title, a heady history that leaves any year without a ring condemned as catastrophic.
“What makes the Yankees the Yankees is winning and winning a World Series,” said New York shortstop Anthony Volpe, who grew up a Yankees fan in Manhattan and New Jersey. “I had a way better view now than I did when I was a fan. There was sometimes where we were like basically sitting with our backs against the upper deck top row and it felt like the stadium was going to come down shaking.”
AL Central champion Cleveland beat Detroit in a five-game Division Series and the AL East-winning Yankees defeated Kansas City 3-1. While the Mets, Yankees and Dodgers are 1-2-3 in payroll at $266 million and up, the Guardians are 23rd at $109 million.
“We’re confident in who we are,” Guardians first-year manager Stephen Vogt said. “All we can control is us.”
A chill in the air led some players to wear ski caps for Sunday’s workout.
“I’m sure Yankee Stadium is going to be rocking tomorrow night,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It looks like cooler weather is moving in for these first two games, so it’s going to have that October feel to it.”
Fans in the right field bleachers pelted Cleveland outfielders with bottles, cans and debris moments after New York rallied for a 5-4 win in April 2022, a weekend in which Cleveland’s Myles Straw called Yankees supporters the “worst fan base on the planet.”
Two years ago, Cleveland’s Josh Naylor angered Yankees fans with his rock-the-baby celebration of a home run off of Gerrit Cole in Game 4 of an ALDS won by the Yankees in five games.
“The reception a couple months ago was pretty good, so I’m sure it will be the same,” Vogt said.
Cobb has thrown just 19⅓ major league innings this year. The 37-year-old right-hander, a 2023 All-Star, had hip surgery on Oct. 31 and hadn’t yet returned to the mound when he was acquired from San Francisco at the July 30 trade deadline.
He made his season debut on Aug. 9 and was sidelined after two games by a torn nail on his right index finger. He didn’t allow an earned run over six innings in his Sept. 1 return against Pittsburgh, then went back on the injured list with a blister on his right middle finger that ended his regular season.
“I felt on pace to have a pretty normal season after the hip surgery and just had setback after setback,” he said. “I don’t think anything’s gone quite like I expected it to this year, but to look up and to be in the ALCS and have an opportunity to set the tone early is something I’m going to cherish for a long time.
He was 2-1 with a 2.76 ERA in three games and 16⅓ innings with the Guardians, then allowed two runs over three innings in Game 3 against Detroit.
“I’ve done everything I can to make sure that I’ve mentally stayed sharp, gone over my delivery as much as I could with the long layoffs in between,” he said. “Even though it was only three innings in the DS series, it helped a lot to get back into that game action and feel the adrenaline of the postseason.”
Rodón wants to be more like Cole when he starts the ALCS opener.
After getting knocked out in the fourth inning of his ALDS start against Kansas City, Rodón paid close attention to his teammate’s outing in Thursday’s clincher.
“Gerrit’s a good poker player. Me, not so much,” Rodón said Sunday. “I need to be better at poker.”
Cole (a former UCLA and Orange Lutheran standout) pitched shutout ball into the sixth, allowed Vinnie Pasquantino’s RBI double that cut the Yankees’ lead to two runs, then retired Salvador Perez on a pop-up. He pitched seven innings in New York’s series-clinching 3-1 win.
“He didn’t react every inning,” Rodón said. “If you watched him come out, it’s just like a robot walking to the dugout. Then at the end of the seventh, it’s a big roar because he knows like ‘I did my job.’”
Cole starts Game 2 on Tuesday, followed by Clarke Schmidt in Game 3 at Cleveland on Thursday and rookie Luis Gil the following day in Game 4.
“It was really kind of choosing between Clarke and Carlos,” Boone said Sunday. “It just felt like it was close, and I feel like this kind of keeps them on rhythm as much as possible without giving one guy a huge, long layoff.”
Rodón’s fastball averaged 97 mph against the Royals, 1.6 mph above his season average, and he struck out the side in the first. He led 1-0 until Perez’s leadoff home run in the fourth sparked a four-run inning. Tommy Pham, Garrett Hampson and Maikel Garcia hit RBI singles that chased the 31-year-old left-hander in a 4-2 loss.
“Usually I start off fairly tame velo-wise and then work my way up to the higher numbers later into the game. I wouldn’t say that’s a reason of why it kind of unraveled for me,” Rodón said. “There’s some times for some better composure, and I think it could help some energy levels for sure.”
A two-time All-Star and 10-year veteran, Rodón doesn’t mind displays of emotion on the field.
“If you want to act a certain way, sure, go about it your way,” he said. “If you hit a homer off me 900 feet or however far, you want to flip your bat, flip your bat. You did something good. This game’s hard. It’s not easy. So a little celebration is fine.”
Rodón rebounded to a 16-9 record with a 3.96 ERA over 172 innings in 32 starts in his second season with the Yankees after signing a $162 million, six-year contract. He was 3-8 with a career-worst 6.85 ERA over 14 outings in a 2023 season that didn’t start until July 7 because of a strained left forearm and back stiffness.
“He’s in a really good spot, throwing the ball well,” Boone said. “Hopefully going through his first playoff game here in the Bronx and experience all the emotions that you do, hopefully there’s something that serves him well in this next time.”
Rodón’s wife, Ashley, said she received online harassment following his defeat.
“It’s not the first time nor will it be the last time,” the pitcher said. “I think Ashley and I spoke about it that night, and she said, and I quote, she said, ‘I have thick skin, so I’m going to be OK.’ And she does. She’s a tough lady, my wife, very tough, probably tougher than I am. For me, on my phone, I have accounts, but I do not have social media on my phone.”
Cleveland’s José Ramírez should get more nationwide attention in Boone’s view.
“He’s the complete package,” the Yankees manager said. “If I hear another how underappreciated, underrated he is from somebody on a network or something, I want to rip my arms off and throw it at the TV. He’s not underappreciated. He is not underrated. He’s a great on-track Hall of Fame player.”
Ramírez had a quiet ALDS, going 3 for 16 with three RBIs.
“He’s one of the elite players in this league,” Vogt said. “He’s a top-five player in this league every year. In the baseball circles, everyone knows about it and talks about it.”
Juan Soto is 7 for 11 with four homers against Cobb.
Cleveland’s bullpen threw 25⅔ of 44 innings in the ALDS and had a 3.16 ERA, up from a big league-best 2.57 during the regular season.
“We’ve relied on our bullpen all year long, but now in a seven-game (series) – traditional seven games in nine days – you have to do it a little bit differently,” Vogt said. “With the days off we had in the DS, it allowed us to really push the bullpen more than typically.”
Boone said it was possible first baseman Anthony Rizzo could be added to the roster, but no decision had been made. Rizzo has been sidelined since fracturing a pair of fingers when hit by a pitch on Sept. 28.
“He did a lot more yesterday and did pretty well, but I want to see more today,” Boone said before the workout. “There’s a chance.”
