Cleveland Guardians Beat Themselves In ALCS Game 1

The Cleveland Guardians made some critical mistakes in their Game 1 loss to the New York Yankees in the ALCS.

Oct 14, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; Cleveland Guardians third base José Ramírez (11) breaks his bat during the sixth inning against the New York Yankees in game one of the ALCS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

The Cleveland Guardians will play from behind in the ALCS as the New York Yankees take Game 1, 5-2. The final score is slightly misleading in this game, though. It was a dominant performance from the Yankees, and Lane Thomas could have easily represented the tying run when he reached base in the top of the ninth inning.

This was a game where the Guardians beat themselves and could never recover from some critical mistakes early on.

Let's start with the offensive approach from the Guardians.

Everything was off to a great start against Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodon as Steven Kwan worked a nine-pitch at-bat as the game's first hitter. However, that's where Cleveland's success off Rodon stopped.

Rodon pitched 6.0 innings, struck out nine batters, issued no walks, and gave up one earned run on a Brayan Rocchio solo shot. The Yankees pitcher carved through Cleveland's order, finished with 25 swings and misses and even sent down 11 straight batters at one point.

Whatever the Guardians' game plan was against Rodon, it didn't work.

Cleveland's pitching was the polar opposite of what the Yankees. The Guardians had trouble finding the zone the entire night and issued seven walks as a team.

Stephen Vogt said after the game, "We talked about this before the series started, [the Yankees] work the count. They don't chase a whole lot. I think, if I take something away from tonight, we just need to attack the zone better, and we didn't tonight. They made us work."

Oct 14, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; Cleveland Guardians manger Stephen Vogt walks to the mound to to relieve pitcher Joey Cantillo (54) during the fourth inning against the New York Yankees in game one of the ALCS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Now, we have to get into the third inning. When Alex Cobb's night was over, Vogt opted to put in Joey Cantillo from the bullpen. In theory, Cantillo should've had a favorable matchup against Anthony Rizzo and Alex Verdugo.

However, two wild pitches later, the Yankees had a 3-0 lead. Cleveland's catcher, Bo Naylor, was also criticized for defending some of these incoming pitches.

Either way, this can't happen in a playoff game.

From the excessive swings-and-miss, command issues for Cleveland's pitchers, and a couple of ill-timed wild pitches, this was a game the Guardians would've liked to have had back.

There are two ways to look at this now.

One is that these miscues cost the Guardians the game. The other is that Cleveland was just a few slip-ups away from truly being in this game at the end and having some positives in Game 2.

However, that's not something they can think about anymore. Game 2 is less than 24 hours away, and they must come out sharp, or they'll be down two games to none heading back to Progressive Field.