The American League Championship Series will begin on Monday between the Cleveland Guardians and the New York Yankees.
Both of these teams won their respective division with the Guardians winning the American League Central and the Yankees winning the American League East.
Most of the praise this year has come from the Guardians’ pitching staff as they had 3 relievers with sub-2 earned run averages.
Major League Baseball analyst Ryan Dempster, however, believes it will be the Guardians offense that will set the tone for the ALCS.
“I think their offense is kind of firing on all cylinders right now,” Dempster said.
"The Guardians offense will set the tone."@Dempster46 believes that Cleveland is firing on all cylinders ahead of Game 1 of the ALCS in the Bronx tonight.#Postseason | @SieraSantos | @JakePeavy_22 pic.twitter.com/UVhVQjY4XX
— Intentional Talk (@IntentionalTalk) October 14, 2024
Dempster describes the great pitching that the Guardians faced in the ALDS against the Tigers, and he says that they were eventually able to get to them.
A Guardians bat to highlight is that of Steven Kwan who bats in the leadoff spot and had 3 hits in the final 3 games of the series against the Tigers.
Kwan is a tone-setter at the top of the lineup, and his ability to get on base could potentially put the pressure on the Yankees right off the bat.
Lane Thomas is a new acquisition by the Guardians this season, and he came up with a huge grand slam in game 5 of the ALDS off of the likely American League Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal who has been dominant the entire season/postseason.
Game 1 will take place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, so the Guardians will have the first at-bats of the night to try and set the tone early.
NEXT: Guardians Make 2 Roster Moves Ahead of ALCS
