Yankees Playoffs: Gerrit Cole showed Shane Bieber how far he has to go

Yankees ace Gerrit Cole dominated Game 1 of the 2020 MLB playoffs to an historic degree. Shane Bieber did not.

The New York Yankees paid Gerrit Cole $324 million to be what Shane Bieber someday hopes to be: a year-in, year-out consistent ace.

If the difference between the two men wasn’t already clear prior to Tuesday night’s Game 1, it was laid bare on a national stage. Bieber is an astoundingly good pitcher when he’s on, but the body of work is not there yet. When he’s uncomfortable, it shows. In his playoff debut, he was nicked early, then punched in the mouth when he relented.

Cole, on the other hand, shrugged off a 400-foot Josh Naylor homer like it was a chipped fingernail. New balls, please.

This game was his, from first pitch to last. And Bieber let the game play him.

It took four pitches, most of them fastballs, before Aaron Judge shredded Bieber’s game plan with one swing, a rocket into deep right field.

From that point on, as Views From 314 Ft. pointed out, Bieber threw 26.7% fastballs, down significantly from his season average of 37%. Plan B wasn’t nearly as successful as Plan A had been for him, consistently, in 2020. His curveball, which he struggled to get over for called strikes, wasn’t nearly as much of a weapon when it was constantly buried in the dirt with zero variance.

And he fell in love with it from the fifth pitch on, using the bender six consecutive times to Gleyber Torres in what eventually became a game-bending walk. In his playoff debut, the consensus Cy Young allowed the sliding Yankees to dictate his entire plan for the remainder of the game. The team with experience took the reins right back, parlaying a 2-0 first-inning lead into so much more.

Cole? He sat back, calm and collected. He’s been in the postseason before. He’s dominated with his best stuff (15 Ks against the Rays in the ALDS last year) and worst stuff (Game 3 of the ALCS at Yankee Stadium, weaving in and out of trouble, Andy Pettitte-style). When Jose Ramirez ripped an RBI double in the third and cut it to a 3-1 game with runners on second and third, he reared back and bullied Carlos Santana with fastballs. When Naylor homered, he whiffed Roberto Perez and Tyler Naquin like he was reciting a script.

By the end of the evening, he was in Tom Seaver territory.

With no fans in the stands, there was nothing in the environment to get under Cole’s skin except midges.

Somehow, Bieber let the opponent claw at him, playing the role of a hostile visiting crowd. In four pitches, the Yankees got the ace on the other side of the bump to change everything, paw at the rubber and landing spot with his toes, and surrender Game 1 to them long before the final out.

Cole? He let the whole thing play out and executed his role as if he’d spent 30 years waiting to be unflappable. Because he has.

If you want financial security, you’d better provide security right back. And Bieber has a long way to go before he has the confidence to dictate his own narrative like the Yankees’ $324-million architect.

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