Yankees Wild Card Preview
By Lucas Bolduc
The New York Yankees face the Cleveland Indians in the Wild Card round of the MLB playoffs. Now, this wildcard is like no other wildcard we’ve ever seen. It’s a series. The Yankees have a three game series, all road games in Cleveland, against a dominant pitching staff. From Shane Bieber to Carlos Carrasco, the bombers have their hands full. Let’s look into it.
In 12 starts, Shane Bieber pitched to an outstanding 1.63 ERA, winning eight games, and striking out 122 batters. A top candidate for the AL Cy Young award, Bieber is looking to mow down the Yanks and start his team’s hunt for a championship. With a Yankee team filled top to bottom with right handed batters, you’d think Bieber would present a significant issue for them. While Bieber still pitches well against righties, his stats against left handed hitters are actually better. Hopefully stars like Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton can hit the guy, and get to him early on in his start to allow Gerrit Cole to settle in and pitch with confidence. While it is important to note Bieber has little to no experience against some of the bombers, so hopefully we can crack him early on.
As for our pitching, Gerrit Cole needs to continue his playoff dominance he showed in Houston. He can not afford to get in a hole early, or give up multi run home runs. That is unacceptable. As for Happ and Tanaka, who I am assuming will get the other two starts in this series if we need all 3 games, they have different ways to go about their business. Happ finished off 2020 strong, and he needs to carry that momentum into the postseason. For someone who once thought the Yanks were intentionally spacing his starts out to avoid paying him big money, he needs to use that as motivation and show he deserves it. Keeping the walks down and limiting home runs is key for Happ. Tanaka on the other hand just has to be Tanaka, because come playoff time, Masa doesn’t mess around. He has a career 1.83 ERA in the postseason, and that dominance has to continue if he wants to play a key role in a chase for 28.
