New York Yankees @ Cleveland Indians

New York Yankees -117

Games Total: 9

Game Play Predictions

New York Yankees

  • The Yankees are 4-0 against Cleveland this season.
  • Indians rookie right-handed Shane Bieber has the task of trying to slow down the Yankees’ vaunted lineup.
  • Bieber has a 3.47 ERA and 3.24 FIP in 36.1 innings across six starts. Those numbers are especially impressive considering he has allowed a .380 BABIP this season. Bieber has an 8.92 K/9 and a 1.49 BB/9 this season. His 6.00 K/BB is 18th among pitchers with at least 30 innings, right behind Edwin Díaz and Chris Sale .
  • Bieber has been roughed up a bit over his last two outings, allowing four earned runs in 6.0 innings with at least eight hits in each.
  • Bieber’s 1.40 WHIP is likely to come down soon, but his 82.3 LOB% probably will come down as well.
  • The Yankees are eighth in MLB in strikeout rate, but they make up for it in part with the league’s second highest walk rate, at 10.0 percent.
  • It is actually a bit surprising New York’s strikeout rate isn’t higher, since they have two of the seven MLB players (Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge ) who own a strikeout rate over 30 percent.
  • Judge is seventh in MLB with a 16.1 percent walk rate.
  • The Yankees lead the league with 157 home runs. They are 16 ahead of the second place Red Sox and 18 ahead of the Indians in third.
  • Brett Gardner is 11-for-34 with four home runs over the last seven days.
  • Didi Gregorius is 10-for-29 with a home run during his six-game hitting streak.
  • Giancarlo Stanton has just one home run over the last seven days, but he is still 12-33 over that span.
  • The Yankees have a 38.1 percent flyball rate this season, good for seventh.
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Cleveland Indians

  • The Indians will face Yankees rookie Domingo Germán . German has 86 strikeouts in 74.2 innings this season. His 5.06 ERA is mostly a result of his 1.69 HR/9, as he owns a 4.47 FIP and 3.76 xFIP.
  • In his only career start against Cleveland, Domingo Germán tossed six innings of no-hit ball, with nine strikeouts and two walks back on May 6.
  • German has been a pretty extreme flyball pitcher this season, with a 38.2 percent groundball rate. German got a lot more groundballs in the minors, including a 45.6 percent groundball rate in 76.1 innings at Triple-A last season, so he may be able to generate more groundballs going forward.
  • That being said, we might reasonably expect German to give up a couple more homers in this game. The Indians are the only MLB team with three players with 20+ home runs. José Ramírez is tied for the league lead with 28, while Francisco Lindor is tied for third at 25. Edwin Encarnación has 21 home runs, tied for 13th.
  • As a team, Cleveland ranks third with 129 home runs. They are fourth in stolen bases with 69.
  • Only three MLB teams have a higher flyball rate than Cleveland’s 38.6 percent.
  • The Indians are 26th with a 20.2 percent strikeout rate.
  • Cleveland has been especially difficult to strike out of late, with a 13.7 percent strikeout rate over the last seven days.
  • If Cleveland does not get to Domingo Germán , they could be in trouble. The Yankees have the best bullpen ERA in the American League after they held Cleveland hitless for four innings Thursday.
  • José Ramírez has exactly two hits in each of his last three games, with at least one home run in each.
  • Michael Brantley and Francisco Lindor have been nearly as impressive, as each has nine hits over the last seven days.