Cleveland Guardians Set Starting Rotation vs. New York Yankees for A.L.D.S.

The Guardians are using their best three starting pitchers to open the playoff series against New York, but in a different order than normal.

Author:
Brendan Gulick
Updated:
Oct 15, 2022 11:56 AM EDT

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Cleveland Guardians

It's always one of the biggest questions heading into a playoff series: how do you line up your starting pitching?

The Cleveland Guardians are in New York to take on the Yankees this week in the American League Division Series and I think the relatively odd schedule for games actually benefits Cleveland.

New York earned a first round bye in the postseason by virtue of their 99-win regular season, but I don't think they are going to have the advantage that they hoped to have.

After Cleveland opened the playoffs with back-to-back wins over Tampa Bay, the Guardians had both Sunday and Monday off to rest their pitching, PLUS there ended up being two days off between Games 1 and 2 with the scheduled off day.

Originally, it seemed like Cleveland probably wouldn’t need a fourth starter in the series. But Shane Bieber won’t likely be available on two days rest for a potential Game 5. But the Guardians bullpen is in far better shape than New York’s, which is dealing with a number of injured pitchers.

Here are the matchups for the series: