Yankees: Playoffs baseball and Gray debut tonight in Cleveland

The Yankees road to the World Series, very possibly, will lead through Cleveland. Tonight, the Bombers take a test drive to Ohio to begin a four game series that will set the stage for that event.

The Yankees arrived in Cleveland late last night following a twice-delayed losing effort versus the Detroit Tigers, soaking the team’s hope of coming there on the high of another series win, and a chance to pull even with the Red Sox in the standings, whose game with the Indians was postponed by weather last night.

The Indians, much like the Cubs, look like they’ve saved their best baseball for the second half and are finally beyond the hangover effects of last year’s World Series appearance. The Minnesota Twins have orbited back to earth in the AL Central, leaving open a path for Cleveland to walk through. The off and on Kansas City team remains their only challenge, and the Royals inconsistency puts them more in line for a Wild Card spot if anything in the Playoffs.

Meanwhile, the Yankees face serious challenges from both the Red Sox and the pesky Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East as they seek their first Division title since 2012. Yes, it’s been that long.

The Indians move placing Andrew Miller on the 10-day DL subtly suggests they are not as concerned about this series as the Yankees might be. Miller himself let the cat out of the bag, indicating the move is to preserve him for the Playoffs, telling MLB.com:

"“I’ve felt like it explains some lack of crispness,” Miller said. “I think that we’re in a place right now where it seems like as soon as I pitch again, I go through something that sets it off again, and we get back to square one. So the idea is, with a little bit of time, we can get ahead of it and get it out and it won’t come back.”"

For the Yankees though, this is the time to shine and to take what Brian Cashman has done on paper by transferring the high marks he received at the trade deadline onto the playing field.

As Yankees fans know, Both Sonny Gray and Jaime Garcia will make their debuts wearing a new uniform in the first two games of the series. The bar for Garcia is much lower than it is for Gray, and the pressure will be heavy on him to show he’s a “New York kind of guy,” something a portion of the media has questions about since the trade.

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Gray will be opposed tonight by Cleveland’s ace, Corey Kluber, who’s been getting better and better as the season moves along. In his last appearance, Kluber struck out twelve over 6.1 innings.

The rest of the series matches up Garcia and Trevor Bauer, who went eight innings in his last start surrendering only one run. On Saturday, the Yankees crafty left-hander, Jordan Montgomery, who been struggling of late with his command get the ball against Danny Salazar (9-8, 4.63). And in the finale on Sunday, Yankees ace of late, Luis Severino, goes against Mike Clevinger (5-4, 3.68).

The Indians have lost three in a row, so they are not exactly flying high at the moment. But neither is the Yankees offense that was shutout yesterday by Jordan Zimmermann.

Joe Girardi will likely start his regular lineup, meaning Jacoby Ellsbury takes a seat on the bench. His only decision will be whether Ronald Torreyes or Tyler Wade gets the start at second base for the still injured, Starlin Castro.

Next: Which of the Yankees horses will end up in the barn?

The tone for the series, though, will be set by Sonny Gray and whether or not the feeble Yankees offense can crack through against Kluber to score a few runs.

Playoff baseball in August! Ya gotta love it.

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