New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Guardians: Series Preview

New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Guardians: Series Preview

While they may have dropped the series finale on Wednesday, the Yankees continued their winning start to the season with another series victory over the Marlins earlier this week. After getting a day off yesterday, they hit the road and they’re now set to try and continue that run starting tonight against the Guardians.

Cleveland has also made a nice start to the year, as they sit atop the AL Central at 9-3 under new manager Stephen Vogt. At +35, their run differential is the best in baseball to this point. Their offense has been especially impressive, with four of their lineup regulars posting a OPS+ of over 150. Their pitching recently took a hit with the news that former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber will need Tommy John surgery, but either way, this will be a tough test against a team that’s played well so far.

Before the series gets going tonight, let’s take a look at the expected pitching matchup for this weekend.

Friday: Clarke Schmidt vs. Carlos Carrasco (7:10 pm ET)

Schmidt’s main issue so far this season has, once again, been the multiple times through the order penalty. In his two starts so far, he’s allowed a .667 OPS the first time through the order and a 1.405 one in the third time. Those are obviously still a very small sample size, but it is worth noting considering his past struggles with that and how the Yankees could really use him improving that aspect of his game.

After an ill-fated stint with the Mets, Carrasco returned to Cleveland on a minor league deal this offseason and then pitched his way onto their MLB roster to start the season, putting up a 2.57 ERA in 14 spring training innings. His regular season starts have been so-so thus far, as he only lasted three innings against the Twins last time out, albeit while only allowing one run on one hit.

Saturday: Luis Gil vs. Triston McKenzie (6:10 pm ET)

Following his remarkable spring training to nab the fifth starter spot, Gil has gotten off to a pretty decent start to the regular season. His main issue so far has been length, as he hasn’t gotten out of the fifth in either of his starts. In the last one against the Blue Jays, he battled though some issues with walks and his obvious frustration with home plate umpire Ángel Hernández to still put in a respectable outing.

After a breakout 2022, McKenzie missed most of 2023 due to injury issues. He’s returned this year and has been up and down so far. His most recent start was “up” portion of that, as he shutout the White Sox over 5.2 innings despite issuing four walks.

Sunday: Nestor Cortes vs. Logan Allen (1:40 pm ET)

Cortes’ first two starts of the season were semi-worrying, but earlier this week he bounced back with arguably the best performance from a Yankee starter so far. He threw eight scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and no walks, while striking out six. The Marlins aren’t exactly the stiffest competition but it was a fairly dominant outing when he really needed one.

Allen has gone down as the winning pitcher in two of his three starts so far, but his 4.60 ERA is worse than league average. That being said, this will be the second-year pitcher’s first ever matchup against the Yankees, and we know the supposed lore about when the Yankees face a pitcher for the first time.