Series preview: Guardians at Yankees

The Guardians are in a funk right now, and luckily so are the Yankees. This isn’t the same team that rolled into Cleveland a couple of weeks ago riding a three-game winning streak. Not that they are terrible, but they are a team in as much disarray as the Guardians, just for different reasons.

Whereas most (but not all) of the Guardians struggles have simply come from a slumping offense, the Yankees could almost field a team with everyone on their injured list. Entering this series they will have 12 on the IL, including Josh Donaldson, Harrison Bader, Giancarlo Stanton, Carlos Rodón, Luis Severino, and Jonathan Loáisiga, among others. Aaron Judge may not be among them, but he’s battling through a hip strain and hasn’t played since Thursday.

The Yankees injuries were so deep that even old friend Jake Bauers got another shot at a major-league roster ... until he immediately slid into the outfield wall to make a catch and injured himself. He’s listed as day-to-day with a knee contusion.

Between injuries and their own slumping issues, the Yankees offense isn’t much better than the Guardians’. They ranked 23rd in baseball with a 90 wRC+, only a shade better than Cleveland’s 85. Over the last two weeks, where the Yankees have looked especially bad, their only hitters with a wRC+ over 100 are catcher Jose Trevino (109) and rookie Anthony Volpe (109).

All of this to say, this is a perfect opportunity for the Guardians to get back on track. Turn the calendar on the awful April, and beat the Yankees. Or don’t — I don’t even know anymore.

Guardians batters will see the same three starters they saw in the first series. Gerrit Cole is still Gerrit Cole, Clarke Schmidt can still spin the life out of a baseball, and Domingo German is still a domestic abuse scumbag who the Yankees are happy to pay $2.6 million for his services.

Slumping teams or not, Tuesday’s matchup between Cole and Tanner Bibee should be electric. Bibee pitched seven brilliant innings in his MLB debut and was the only Guardians pitcher able to shut down the vaunted Rockies offense. Pitching in Yankee Stadium will be his first real test, especially if Judge is back in the lineup for the Yankees.

Team at a glance

• Record: 15-14
• Runs scored: 116
• Run differential: +2
• Last 10: 3-7
• Slash: .226/.299/.378
• wOBA: .299
• wRC+: 90
• ERA: 3.78
• SIERA: 3.91
• K-BB%: 17.2%

Projected starters

Monday, May 1, 7:05 p.m. ET: RHP Domingo German vs. RHP Cal Quantrill
Tuesday, May 2, 7:05 p.m. ET: RHP Gerrit Cole vs. RHP Tanner Bibee
Wednesday, May 3, 7:05 p.m. ET: RHP Clarke Schmidt vs. RHP Shane Bieber

Roster

• 40-man roster
• Depth chart