A full day of playoff baseball lies ahead

This is it, the ultimate David vs. Goliath baseball series starts at 7:37 p.m. tonight in New York as the New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians take to the field in a bid to play for the AL pennant.

While the Yankees rested up thanks to their 99-win regular season, the Guardians did what they’ve done all season — they battled. They battled their way to the AL Central crown, and they battled their way past the Rays in the Wild Card. Now their sights are set on the Yankees.

It’s not just the Guardians, either. Every Division Series start today, beginning with the Phillies-Braves at 1:07 p.m., followed by the Mariners-Astros at 3:37 p.m. ET, and the Padres-Dodgers after the Guardians game at 9:37 p.m. ET.

If you weren’t already hyped enough, here’s an excellent hype video from @_CLEology on Twitter.

Cleveland Guardians news

Cleveland Guardians expect rowdy Bronx fans for playoff matchup against New York Yankees | WKYC
“Rowdy” isn’t how I would describe mocking an injured player and throwing things at them on the field (and then sending death threats afterward?!), but the meat of the article here is good. Yankees fans are going to be loud, they are going to be obnoxious. The only thing to do is shut them up.

A deep scouting dive into challenges Guardians pose for Yankees: ‘Play unlike anyone’ | NY Post
It’s always interesting to see how the other side views the Guardians, and it’s usually the same thing: they hustle, they hit, and they pitch. Joel Sherman also makes a good point about the pitching — Eli Morgan and Kirk McCarty were starters in two of the Guardians’ losses to the Yankees this year. I have a suspicion they won’t be starting in the ALDS.

Aaron Judge: Yankees want to take ‘underdog’ mindset into ALDS matchup with Guardians | Cleveland
I can’t tell you how much I want to hate Aaron Judge (baseball-wise), but I just can’t do it. Perhaps in an effort to not give out any free bulletin board material, he had nothing but nice things to say about the Guards in their upcoming series.

“You’re seeing a young team that’s kind of continued to get better and better and better, and played a lot of meaningful games down the stretch and went and took that division,” Boone said. “They grabbed it. So they are a team playing with a lot of confidence right now and do a lot of things really well. We certainly understand that we have to play really well to beat them.”

Guardians add Aaron Civale, Cody Morris to ALDS roster; Nick Sandlin, Kirk McCarty removed | Cleveland
Nothing surprising here, although Aaron Civale will apparently be ready out of the bullpen for Game 1. Terry Francona isn’t tipping his hand for potential Game 4 and 5 pitchers, but it’s likely to be either Aaron Civale or Cal Quantrill.

A Very Long Day at the Ballpark | Waiting For Next Year
If you, like me, are stuck watching every game at home on the couch, this was a great write-up about what it was like to actually be at the 15-inning marathon on Saturday.

Around the league

• The Giants hired Pete Putili as their GM.
• Julio Urías will start Game 1 of NLDS for Dodgers.
• The Phillies made Rob Thomson their manager for the next two years.
• Are the 2022 Braves better than last year’s world champs?
• Spencer Strider got a six-year, $75 million extension.
• Unacceptable owner calls his team’s season unacceptable.
• Old friend(?) Anthony Castro was released by the Orioles.
• The Mets are going to look a lot different next year.