Five takeaways from Guardians series with the Yankees

The Cleveland Guardians just finished their three-game series with the New York Yankees and things did not go their way. Cleveland will more than likely be fine as the season progresses, but this early season series with the Yankees did highlight a few areas of note.

1. Guardians could not score consistently against Yankees pitching

This is something to keep tabs on as the season progresses and as the Guardians take on presumptive playoff teams. Cleveland was able to build two and three run leads early on against New York in the second and third games of the series, but were unable to continue scoring. Adding on an early lead is crucial when facing a top tier team like the Yankees and will be needed when facing other teams of this caliber. Back-to-back games Cleveland had their foot on the throat of the Yankees pitching and they let them off the hook. Early scoring is great, late scoring is elite. Right now they are not elite.

2. Guardians may have something in Peyton Battenfield

While Peyton Battenfield was unable to go deep into the game, the 4.2 innings the Guardians got out of him were quite impressive. Battenfield was able to throw 45 of his 66 pitches for strikes, allowing just one run on four hits with three strikeouts.

One of the more impressive aspects of Battenfield's MLB debut? Registering his first career strikeout against 2022 MVP and home run champ Aaron Judge.

Battenfield did appear a bit more hittable as he finished going through the order for a second time and that is something to monitor moving forward. With that being said, Cleveland really could not have asked for more from Battenfield when they are down two starting pitchers at the moment.

4. Guardians are running wild

One of the more expected outcomes of the new rules was the increase of stolen bases leaguewide and the Guardians are no exception. Cleveland stole four bases against New York, boosting their league-leading stolen base total to 19. To compare, New York stole just one base during the three-game series in Cleveland.

Considering the Guardians lack of home run power and needing to manufacture runs with methods that the new rules incentivize, expect more stolen bases for Cleveland as they look to repeat as one of the best base stealing teams in baseball. (The Guardians 119 steals in 2022 was third-most last season).

5. Guardians do not have a large margin for error

In the two straight losses to New York it was a miscue of some sorts that led to things spiraling and the Yankees taking advantage. The reality is that the Guardians margin for error is not particularly large.

Hunter Gaddis hitting Anthony Rizzo followed by a walk to Gleybor Torres put the Yankees in position to take advantage Tuesday. While not entirely his fault, Andres Gimenez' attempted throw to home which hit crew chief Larry Vanover in the head resulted in a second Yankees run coming across to score. New York would tie the game and ultimately take the lead, handing Cleveland their second straight loss.

What this comes down to is the margin for error for both teams. Cleveland's is rather small while New York's is quite large. The Yankees know that they have enough star power to come back in the most adversity-filled situations. This includes the strange series of events which lead to Cleveland scoring first and Yankee manager Aaron Boone getting tossed in the first inning. This was a situation tailor-made for the Guardians to add on runs and come away with a win, but they were unable to navigate the rest of the game and allowing New York to come back. There is not a better indicator of the difference in the margin for error for both teams and how they approach less than optimal situations than how the final game of the series unfolded.