To much of the baseball-watching community, the Guardians are little more than a pesky road bump for the Yankees to get past on their way to a much-anticipated World Series against either the crosstown Mets or fellow behemoth Dodgers.
And while they are somewhat anonymous — especially without former manager Terry Francona to liven things up — they will present challenges to the Yankees when the ALCS opens Monday in The Bronx for Game 1.
Perhaps the biggest one is Jose Ramirez, who has traditionally hit well against the Yankees, but struggled against them this season.
Certainly, Aaron Boone is aware of Ramirez’s success.
“He’s the complete package,” Boone said before both teams worked out at the Stadium Sunday. “I get on people all the time. If I hear another, ‘How underappreciated, underrated’ he is from somebody on a network or something, I want to rip my arms off and throw it at the TV. He’s not underappreciated. He is not underrated. He’s a great on track Hall of Fame player, and everybody knows it, including everyone sitting out here.”
Cleveland’s first-year manager Stephen Vogt agreed.
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“When Jose’s going, there’s nobody better,’’ Vogt said. “I think that’s the beauty of Jose. He’s one swing away at all times. There’s not one set of eyes that isn’t locked in on him when he’s at the plate. He’s electric.”
Then there’s Cleveland’s bullpen, which was tested against the Tigers in the ALDS, as the Guardians got little length out of their rotation in the series.
Emmanuel Clase leads a relief corps that is considered among the best in the sport and right-hander Cade Smith said they are up to the challenge in this series.
“This is what we’re here for,’’ said Smith, who had a 1.91 ERA in 74 appearances this season. “We want to continue to do our thing. We’ve been tested multiple times and reinforced every time that we’ll do whatever is asked of us. This is exactly what we wanted.”
But Vogt said the Guardians will need to get more out of their rotation in a best-of-seven series than they did in the ALDS and that begins Monday with veteran Alex Cobb starting Game 1.
Among the non-anonymous players in Cleveland’s lineup is Josh Naylor, who drew the wrath of Yankee fans after he mocked the Yankees and Gerrit Cole following a home run in Game 4 of the 2022 ALDS by doing a rock-the-baby motion while he rounded the bases.
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Cole said Sunday he wasn’t concerned about Naylor’s actions, noting they’ve faced off since then, but the crowd may feel differently.
As Vogt said of the Guardians’ trip to The Bronx in August, “The reception a couple months ago was pretty good. So I’m sure it will be the same.’’
And Vogt brushed off the notion that the Yankees are heavy favorites heading into the series.
“We worry about us,’’ Vogt said. “We’ve taken that with every series all year long. We can control what we can, and we know the Yankees are good. They played us tough. This is a really good team we’re about to go up against. But we’re confident in who we are, and that’s all we can control, is us.”
