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The Cleveland Guardians have had to thread many needles on their way to their ALCS clash against the New York Yankees. They had to overcome Tarik Skubal in a decisive Game 5, and came away on top thanks in large part to Lane Thomas' incredible grand slam. But now, the American League's best team in 2024 stands in their way of making it back to the World Series, and in Game 1, they got a firsthand taste of what makes the Yankees great as they suffered a 5-2 loss to start off the ALCS.
Of course, a considerable portion of the Guardians' defeat was self-inflicted. Joey Cantillo, in particular, had a nightmare on the mound, allowing a run to cross the plate on two separate occasions with wild pitches. But for most of the night, the Guardians were playing from behind, as they fell behind in the count far too often. For instance, in the at-bat that saw Juan Soto go deep to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead, Alex Cobb fell behind 2-1, and putting Soto in a hitter's count is far from an ideal circumstance.
Thus, for Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, he will be looking at a more direct approach from his pitchers moving forward, as they cannot afford to put the Yankees' heavy hitters in advantageous positions.
“These guys work the count. They don't chase a whole lot. I think if I take something away from tonight, we just need to attack the zone better, and we didn't tonight. They made us work,” Vogt said following the Guardians' defeat, via ESPN.
The Yankees are boasting two of the best hitters in the MLB in Soto and Aaron Judge, with both being the complete package from the plate. The team takes after their approach at the plate, with both being very selective and patient while having the eye to discern which pitches are there for them to launch.
Therefore, attacking the strike zone for the sake of it isn't exactly the best idea for the Guardians, as the Yankees can punish pitches that hang over the middle of the plate — just take a look at the pitches Soto and Giancarlo Stanton launched for a dinger. They will simply have to execute at a much higher level to prevent their ALCS deficit from growing worse.
Joey Cantillo highlights the Guardians' execution woes in Game 1
The Guardians have little margin of error in their ALCS battle against the Yankees. They are operating with a total player payroll that's worth over $200 million cheaper, so they will have to be on point as they look to slay one of the giants of the MLB.
Their performance in Game 1 simply won't cut it. The game got away from the Guardians in the bottom of the third inning, when not only did Juan Soto go yard to open the scoring, Joey Cantillo allowed two total runs on two wild pitches. Just to rub even more salt on the wound, Cantillo had two more wild pitches in the following inning. These errors simply cannot happen for Cleveland moving forward.
