Major League Baseball's postseason will continue on Tuesday with Game 2 of the American League Championship Series between the Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees picked up a 5-2 win in Game 1 on Monday. Each team will start their ace in Game 2 when Gerrit Cole and Tanner Bibee take the mound.
Here now is the streaming info for Tuesday night's game, plus one question for each team.
Where to watch Yankees vs. Guardians
Date: Tuesday, Oct. 15 | Time: 7:38 p.m. ET
Location: Yankee Stadium (New York)
TV channel: TBS, TruTV | Live stream: Max
Probable pitchers: RHP Gerrit Cole (NYY) vs. RHP Tanner Bibee (CLE)
Odds: CLE +143, NYY -170 | O/U: 7
Guardians: Can they get an early lead?
Cleveland has the best bullpen in baseball and really one of the best bullpens of all time. It's always a bit tricky when the best part of your team is the bullpen though, because the bullpen relies on the other parts of the roster. The starting rotation and the offense have to give the bullpen leads to protect, otherwise your great bullpen isn't doing much more than trying to keep games close in the late innings. That was the case in Game 1, when the Guardians fell behind 3-0 in the third.
Setup men Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith, lefty Tim Herrin, and closer Emmanuel Clase have each had two days off leading into Game 2. I would assume they're all good for at least four outs, and maybe as many as six. It's conceivable those four could cover as many as six innings Tuesday night. Bibee is Cleveland's ace and they would love to get seven shutout innings from him. But, with a 2-0 series deficit looming, I doubt Bibee will have a long leash. The Guardians will get into that bullpen at some point.
The question is can the offense put some runs on the board early and play from ahead, and give the bullpen a lead to protect? The Guardians have scored six runs total in the first four innings of games this postseason, and five of those came in the first inning of Game 1 against the Detroit Tigers in the Division Series. They've done the majority of their scoring in the middle and late innings. Not so much early. That's a trend they'd like to buck in Game 2.
Cole is the best starting pitcher still standing in the postseason and he was terrific in the Division Series clincher against the Kansas City Royals, allowing only one run in 6 2/3 innings. Pushing across a few early runs against Cole in Game 2 will not be easy, but with their bullpen rested and ready to go, it is the kind of thing that could really swing the game in Cleveland's favor.
Yankees: Will they start to hit?
A weird question for a team that is 4-1 this postseason, for sure, but the Yankees are hitting .218 with a .353 slugging percentage in those five games. That's the lowest batting average among the seven teams that have played at least five games this October. They're 6 for 41 (.146) with runners in scoring position and 16 for 84 (.190) with runners on base in the postseason. The Yankees have stranded an awful lot runners in their five games.
And yet, New York is stacking wins because they've shown absurd plate discipline -- 37 strikeouts and 34 walks in five games -- and gotten timely home runs, and also timely wild pitches. The Yankees scored their five runs Monday night on two solo homers, a sacrifice fly, and two run-scoring wild pitches. They're the first team ever with multiple run-scoring wild pitches in a postseason game, and they did it in the same inning (and in the span of six pitches).
Aaron Judge is 2 for 15 (.133) this postseason as his October woes continue. Austin Wells is 2 for 20 (.100). That's a combined 4 for 35 (.114) for the 3-4 hitters. The Yankees have been carried by the great Juan Soto and also Giancarlo Stanton, who is again rising to the moment in the postseason. Gleyber Torres has been a force at the leadoff spot as well.
At some point though the Yankees need Judge (and Wells) to hit, and more offense in general. They keep wearing pitchers down -- only one of the five starters they've faced this postseason has completed five innings -- and taking walks and building rallies, but they don't convert those rallies into enough runs. Three times in five postseason games the Yankees put two runners on with no outs in the first inning, but did not score. The opportunities are there. Can they start cashing in and really taking control of games?
