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Cleveland Indians: Ranking potential playoff opponents by desirability

By Aaron Gershon

CLEVELAND, OHIO - MAY 24: Jordan Luplow #8 of the Cleveland Indians steals second during the second inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Progressive Field on May 24, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OHIO - MAY 24: Jordan Luplow #8 of the Cleveland Indians steals second during the second inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Progressive Field on May 24, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 11: Masahiro Tanaka #19 of the New York Yankees pitches in the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium on September 11, 2020 in New York City. New York Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles 10-1. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 11: Masahiro Tanaka #19 of the New York Yankees pitches in the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium on September 11, 2020 in New York City. New York Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles 10-1. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /

team. 43. . . . New York Yankees. 6

It’s been an up and down season for the New York Yankees in 2020. The Bombers started the year 8-1 and after 22 games were 16-6 when a wrath of the injury bug hit.

Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres, DJ LeMahieu, former Indian Gio Urshela and several others have all spent time on the injured list this season, but now the team is finally getting healthy and as a result, are playing better baseball.

The Yankees have won each of their last four games, have gotten dominating pitching performances from Gerrit Cole, Masahiro Tanaka and rookie Deivi Garcia and are expected to be back to full health by next weekend.

When healthy, the Yankees have perhaps the AL’s deepest lineup with five all-stars and the current AL home run leader in Luke Voit and with a starting staff of Cole, Tanaka who is among the best postseason pitchers in the game and a promising rookie in Garcia could be a tough matchup for Cleveland to handle.

In 2017, the Yankees ended the 102-win Indians season in the ALDS after holding them to a combined five runs in the final three games of the series.

New York’s roster and pitching staff have improved since Cleveland’s offense has weakened, which makes facing a healthy Yankee team a potential matchup nightmare for the Tribe.

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