The New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians are well-acquainted with each other in the postseason, but rarely when an American League pennant is on the line.
After finishing with the top two records in the AL, the Yankees and Guardians open up the ALCS Monday night with Game 1 in the best-of-seven series.
"They do it a lot of different ways," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of the Guardians. "A tremendous bullpen, athletic, they defend really well. They're pretty balanced in their attack. Obviously, they have a couple of guys that can really hurt you in the middle of the order (with) a superstar player in (Jose) Ramirez."
New York left-hander Carlos Rodon (0-1, 9.82 ERA) opposes Cleveland right-hander Alex Cobb (0-1, 6.00) in the opener.
The teams are playing each other in the postseason for the seventh time and third time in the past five seasons. The only time they met in the ALCS occurred in 1998, when the Yankees won the final three games to take the series in six.
The Yankees claimed the past three postseason encounters, but those were short series. They won the AL Division Series in 2017 and 2022 and the 2020 wild-card series when the sport expanded the playoffs to 16 teams on account of the 60-game season.
New York earned home-field advantage in the series by going 94-68 and edging Cleveland by 1 1/2 games in the race for the best record. The Yankees are slightly better rested after closing out the ALDS in four games thanks to a 3-1 win at Kansas City on Thursday.
The Yankees hit .220 in the series, where each game was decided by two runs or fewer. While Giancarlo Stanton was 6-for-16 and Juan Soto went 4-for-14, Aaron Judge was 2-for-13.
Cleveland needed five games to get past the Detroit Tigers and is in the ALCS for the first time since 2016. Ramirez was 3-for-16 in the series but Steven Kwan batted .524 (11-for-21) and Lane Thomas batted .316 (6-for-19), including a grand slam off Tarik Skubal in Saturday's 7-3 win.
The Guardians dropped four of six meetings in the regular season with the Yankees due to inconsistent offense. Cleveland scored 17 runs across the two wins but was outscored 25-5 in the four losses.
"We know the Yankees are good," Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. "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. It is going to be a fun series, and we're really looking forward to it."
Rodon was in line to start Game 5 of the ALDS on Saturday and to avoid giving him a longer layoff, the Yankees opted to start the series with him over Clarke Schmidt, who pitches Game 3 on Thursday.
After winning a career-high 16 games during the regular season, Rodon allowed four runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings in a 4-2 loss in Game 2 against Kansas City a week ago. Rodon started quickly and got seven strikeouts but struggled to command his slider during a four-run fourth.
Rodon did not face Cleveland during the regular season and is 8-5 with a 2.81 ERA in 21 career appearances (19 starts) against them, including a no-hitter for the Chicago White Sox on April 14, 2021.
Ramirez has faced Rodon the most of any current Guardian. The third baseman is 10-for-43 (.233) with five RBIs against him.
"It's a formidable lineup," Rodon said. "It is very good. They wouldn't be in the LCS for no reason. It's going to be a fun challenge, and a lot of respect for that Cleveland team."
Cobb took the loss in Game 3 against Detroit on Wednesday when he allowed two runs on three hits in three innings while throwing 41 pitches in a 3-0 defeat. He made that start after various injuries limited him to three starts with Cleveland after being acquired from the San Francisco Giants at the trade deadline.
Since Cobb spent 2011 to 2020 in the AL East with the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles, he has plenty of experience against the Yankees. In 20 regular-season starts against New York, he is 7-5 with a 3.19 ERA.
"They've seen me plenty over the years, most of the guys have at least," Cobb said Sunday. "I think the positive is that you've gone through all these adversities throughout the year, and you're sitting here and getting the ball in Game 1 of the ALCS."
