Storylines for Guardians-Yankees ALCS Game 2

The Guardians had only one real highlight, Brayan Rocchio’s solo homer in the sixth, and everything else went the Yankees’ way. They got excellent starting pitching from Carlos Rodón, homers from All-Stars not named Aaron Judge and a raucous atmosphere from a Yankee Stadium crowd that is so primed for a World Series they can almost taste it.

But if Guardians fans are feeling down, well, they can ask Mets fans — or, really, Dodgers fans — how quickly memories of an easy Game 1 home victory can be erased in Game 2. Here then are the five biggest storylines heading into Tuesday night.

1. Will Cole be the guy the Yankees brought him in to be?
It is always important to remember the context in which the Yankees signed Cole to that nine-year deal before the 2020 season. Cole, and his Astros, had just beaten the Yankees in the 2019 ALCS, ensuring that the Yankees would go a full decade between World Series. “Get us back there,” the Yanks seemed to be saying to Cole with the deal. “Be our ace.”

It has turned into a decade-and-a-half since the Yankees made that 2009 World Series, something you can hardly blame on Cole. Now that the Yankees are closer than they have been since he arrived — remember, the 2022 team was swept in the ALCS — it makes sense that they turn to Cole to get them that one step further. This hasn’t necessarily been a vintage Cole season, thanks in large part to injury. But he was excellent in his ALDS-clinching start, and there’s still no one they’d rather have on the mound. This game is why he is here, after all.

2. Can Bibee just get it to the bullpen?
Successful Cleveland teams of recent vintage have been led by their rotation, but that has very much not been the case this year. The exception has been Bibee, who has been essentially their ace. But the Guardians don’t need him to be an ace like the Yankees need Cole to be one. They just need Bibee to get the game to the back of the team’s terrific bullpen with a lead (or even a tie) and let that group do the rest.

Rookie manager Stephen Vogt has worked the bullpen hard this postseason, and that continued in Game 1, when veteran starter Alex Cobb lasted only 2 2/3 innings. The silver lining of Cleveland’s loss, however, is that Vogt didn’t use top relievers Cade Smith, Tim Herrin, Hunter Gaddis and Emmanuel Clase, giving each a second straight day of rest after a hard-fought ALDS Game 5. So yes, the Guardians might want Bibee to get a bit deeper into the game than he did in his two ALDS starts, neither of which saw him complete the fifth inning. But the main goal is to stay even with or ahead of Cole by the time he leaves the game. If the Yankees break through against the Guardians’ bullpen, they’ll have earned it.

3. Hey, is Giancarlo Stanton going to do this all postseason?
Aaron Judge was hitless in Game 1 — although he did walk and hit a sacrifice fly — but …

As he continues to work his way back toward the run we all know is coming, the other massive Yankee who hits titanic homers is looking like his old MVP self this October. The missile that Stanton hit in the seventh inning in Game 1 was his second of this postseason, and a reminder that when he is on and healthy, there aren’t many more terrifying hitters to face.

His numbers this postseason are downright Judge-like (.368/.455/.789), and that’s nothing new for a slugger who now has 13 homers in his first 32 career playoff games (all since arriving in the Bronx). The Yankees have been led by Judge and Juan Soto all season, but adding Stanton — 2017 Stanton, no less — turns them into more than just two stars and a bunch of other guys: It darned-near turns them into a new Murderers’ Row. Get Judge, Soto and Stanton going at the same time, and it might not even matter how the Yankees pitch.

4. Will José Ramírez get going?
In many ways, this series, and kind of this whole postseason, has been an opportunity for the whole world to see, once and for all, just how incredible of a hitter Ramírez is. This is a guy who has finished in the top 10 in AL MVP Award voting six times — and is about to do it for a seventh time — and is quietly building himself a strong Hall of Fame case, even if his national profile has never matched his production. Playing against the Yankees? For the right to go to the World Series? To win one for long-suffering Cleveland? That’s a perfect opportunity to get noticed.

So it’s not helpful, then, that Ramírez is, um, having a miserable postseason so far. He’s 3-for-20, with one homer, and when Luke Weaver got him to roll over on a changeup in the eighth inning of Game 1, with Ramírez standing at the plate as the tying run, it was pretty clear the game was over. The Guardians are already short on offense without Ramírez struggling like he is. It’s tough to see how they have much of a chance if he doesn’t start hitting like José Ramírez, and fast.

5. Can the Yankees take full control of this series?
You’ll see this stat plenty during the TBS broadcast on Tuesday: When teams have gone up 2-0 in a best-of-seven playoff series, they’ve won the series 76 out of 91 times. That’s an 84 percent success rate, which is plenty high. But if the Yankees can win this one, honestly, that 84 percent almost seems low. The Yankees would have a 2-0 lead, they’ll have beaten the Guardians’ best starter, they’ll have all the momentum … and they’ll have done it, really, without even getting their best hitter going yet.

The Guardians need a lot of things to break right for them to win this series, and none of those things involve “going down 2-0.” Heading back to Cleveland for three games, coming off a series-tying win, would have a much different feel to it. This series won’t be over if the Guardians lose Tuesday night. But you could be forgiven if it feels that way.