The Cleveland Guardians will take on their biggest challenge of the season to this point: beating the New York Yankees in a best-of-seven set for the right to advance to the Fall Classic.
Many people say that the Yankees are the slight favorites.
While that might be true, these are both 90+ win teams who might be equally likely to win.
The Guardians’ legendary bullpen and improving offense give them weapons.
Still, the general consensus is that the Yankees are favorites.
Two Yankees legends, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, are inclined to believe that the Yanks’ dominance this year against AL Central competition give them a leg up in the series.
“You don’t have to say it, I’ll say it. They have an easy road to the World Series” @AROD talks about the Yankees path to the World Series this year,” FOX Sports MLB posted on X.
"You don't have to say it, I'll say it. They have an easy road to the World Series"@AROD talks about the Yankees path to the World Series this year pic.twitter.com/TtIt3ok59E
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 14, 2024
The two former All-Stars and in Jeter’s case Hall of Famer are not being disrespectful, but the Guardians might (and should) use this clip as motivation anyway.
The Yankees did have an excellent year against the AL Central, with a 24-7 record against the Division.
Their rival in the Division Series was an AL Central team, the Kansas City Royals.
The Yanks also won four of the six games they played against the Guardians.
While those stats tell us something, they won’t matter once the two teams are on the field.
Teams change and morph several times over the course of a season.
For all we know, the Guardians can sweep the Yankees or vice versa.
In this case, stats, facts and numbers are cool, but they won’t tell us much.
We will have to wait until these squads battle it out on the field.
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