History of Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees in the postseason

The Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees will meet for the sixth time in the postseason. New York leads the overall series 12-10 and has taken three of the five previous series. In the third matchup that took place in the 2007 ALDS, Travis Hafner walked it off Game 2 at Jacobs Field. Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images.

Jack Butler

The Cleveland Guardians won a 15-inning marathon 1-0 in Game 2 on Oscar González’s walk-off solo home run to sweep the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Wild Card Series. Cleveland faces the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series for the fourth time since 1997 and the third meeting with them in six postseasons.

1997 ALDS (CLE over NYY 3-2)

The first postseason matchup between these clubs occurred in 1997 before some of these young Guardians – Gabriel Arias, Will Benson, Will Brennan, González, and Bo Naylor – were born. New York finished 2nd in the AL East that season going 96-66, to earn the Wild Card to face Cleveland, who won their third consecutive AL Central Divison title with a mark of 86-75.

In Game 1, the Yankees stormed back from a 5-0 deficit by scoring eight of the final nine runs, highlighted by back-to-back-to-back home runs by Tim Raines, Derek Jeter, and Paul O’Neill. New York won the game 8-6, but Cleveland evened up the series behind the right arm of Jaret Wright and Matt Williams’ two-run shot.

David Wells stole the show in a 6-1 win at Jacobs Field in Game 3 by tossing a complete game, and the Indians were one loss from being eliminated. A day later, Cleveland was down to its final four outs facing Mariano Rivera down 2-1. Then, Sandy Alomar Jr. launched a ball just over the nine-foot wall in right to tie the game. The Indians won it 3-2 off Ramiro Mendoza on Omar Vizquel’s RBI single. Game 5 was another one-run contest going 4-3 to Cleveland as Wright pitched another solid game, and Manny Ramirez had 2 RBIs.

1998 ALCS (NYY over CLE 4-2)

The Yankees and Indians won their respective divisions a year later and took care of the Rangers and Red Sox in the Division Series. For the first time, they met in the American League Championship Series (ALCS), where Wells continued his domination over Cleveland in Game 1 by working 8 1/3 innings in the 7-2 victory. Game 2 was a pitchers’ duel between David Cone and Charles Nagy, whom each gave up just one run in 8 innings and 6 2/3 innings, respectively. In the 12th, Cleveland struck for three runs, with a pair coming on a Kenny Lofton single to take the contest 4-1.

Cleveland’s young hurler Bartolo Colon tossed a complete game, and two home runs by Jim Thome powered the Indians over the Yankees 6-1 in Game 3. The Yankees' pitching bounced back the next day when 32-year-old Orlando Hernández, in his postseason debut, went seven scoreless frames of three-hit baseball, and O’Neill homered to even up the series at two games apiece.

In the pivotal fifth game, the Yankees narrowly defeated the Indians 5-3, backed by another strong performance from Wells, along with a Chili Davis home run. Game 6 at Yankee Stadium went to New York 9-5 in one where Cleveland didn’t execute and made three errors. Thome hit a grand slam to make it a one-run game in the fifth, but the Yankees tacked on three the next inning to win the series.

2007 ALDS (CLE over NYY 3-1)

The Indians' six-year absence from postseason play ended after going 96-66 to tie the best record in baseball and faced the Wild Card Yankees in the ALDS. Cleveland rocked New York 12-3 in Game 1, with each hitter in the Indians lineup collecting a hit except for Franklin Gutierrez. Lofton led the team offensively with three hits and drove in four runs, while Sabathia and the bullpen kept the Bronx Bombers in check.

Game 2 was the most memorable in the series for the midges taking center stage in the eighth with Joba Chamberlain on the mound. Cleveland tied it on a Chamberlin wild pitch, and Fausto Carmona (Roberto Hernández) struck out Alex Rodriguez to finish nine masterful innings. Travis Hafner ended it on a liner to the gap in right-center to win 2-1, which put the Indians up 2-0 in the series.

New York kept its season alive with an 8-4 victory in Game 3, which was led by Johnny Damon’s three-hit game, including a three-run homer. The next day, the Indians jumped to a commanding 6-1 lead in the fourth and held to take it 6-4 despite the Yankees' efforts to come back.

2017 ALDS (NYY over CLE 3-2)

A year removed from reaching Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, the Indians went 102-60 in 2017 to have the best record in the AL. They played the Yankees in the ALDS, who won the Wild Card Game over the Twins. In the opening game, Trevor Bauer was hitting his spots for 6 2/3 scoreless innings and punched out eight Yankees while Sonny Gray gave up three hits, one of them a Jay Bruce two-run homer, and Cleveland took Game 1 4-0.

Game 2 was looking bleak for the Indians, who got just 2 2/3 innings from Corey Kluber and were down 8-3 entering the sixth. They loaded the bases with two outs, then Francisco Lindor hit one off the right-field foul pool for a grand slam to make it an 8-7 game. Bruce tied the game with a homer to the bleachers, which would remain deadlocked at eight until Yan Gomes’ walk-off single in the 13th.

In a 0-2 hole, the Yankees got the 1-0 victory behind Masahiro Tanaka’s seven scoreless innings and Greg Bird’s solo homer off Andrew Miller, one of the game's toughest left-handed relievers. The next night, New York rocked Bauer starting on three days' rest for four runs in his 1 2/3 innings. Luis Severino continued the Yankees' strong pitching by going seven innings, and New York won 7-3, forcing Game 5.

The fifth game featured a rematch of Game 2 between Kluber and CC Sabathia at Progressive Field. Kluber allowed two home runs to Didi Gregorius, and the Indians couldn’t hit their former ace until it was too late. The Yankees and Indians bullpens did there jobs in the sixth to eighth frames, so the do-or-die game headed to the ninth. Cleveland trailed 3-2 but exited down 5-2 after two errors led to a pair of Yankees insurance runs. Aroldis Chapman returned for his second inning of work and struck out Austin Jackson looking to earn the save where the Cleveland faithful were stunned.

2020 AL Wild Card Series (NYY over CLE 2-0)

After the shortened 60-game season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Yankees (33-27) and Indians (35-25) matched up for the fifth time in postseason play. The two teams didn’t meet in the regular season, which didn’t provide an advantage for Triple Crown winner Shane Bieber in Game 1. Bieber was lit up as he gave up nine hits and seven runs in 4 2/3 innings, while Gerrit Cole dominated Cleveland for seven innings to strike out 13 and gave up just two runs on six hits. The Yankees ended up defeating the Indians 12-3, just needing one more victory for the ALDS.

In Game 2, the Indians jumped to an early 4-0 lead, with two coming on Josh Naylor’s double. The Yankees clawed their way back with six unanswered runs, four scoring on a Gio Urshela grand slam. Jose Ramirez’s two-run double tied the game at six in the fifth, which didn’t last an inning as Gary Sanchez left the yard for a two-run homer. This made it 8-6 Yankees, but the Indians retied it on Jordon Luplow’s seventh-inning two-bagger that scored a pair.

In the following inning, César Hernández gave Cleveland a 9-8 lead on a single, however, the MLB saves leader Brad Hand couldn’t close out the Yankees, who collected four hits and two runs. Chapman returned to the mound to finish the Indians for the second time in four postseasons.

In this meeting in the 2022 ALDS, Cleveland will rely on its league-best contract rate along with its strong starting pitching and bullpen to prevail while the Yankees bolster the AL's best offense led by likely MVP winner Aaron Judge – .311 BA., 62 HR, and 131 RBIs.

The Guardians give the ball to Canadian right-hander Cal Quantrill in Game 1, whose dad Paul pitched for the Yankees, and Cole, the 324-million-dollar man, goes for New York at Yankee Stadium.