Okay, Yankees fans, you’ll know around dinner time Saturday whether the Tigers or Guardians are coming to Yankee Stadium Monday night for the ALCS – but if you have your druthers, who do you want to win Saturday’s game?
“The Yankees and Cleveland have a pretty good history,” Tommy Lugauer said. “Sandy Alomar ring a bell?”
“Do they? 1997 and 2007 is a long time ago; what about 2017, 2020, and 2022?” Evan shot back. “They played once in the ALCS, who won? I’ll help you out: it was 1998, and the Yankees did.”
The Yankees and Detroit played in the ALCS in 2012 and the Tigers swept them in the series where Derek Jeter’s ankle finally gave out, and of course the year before was the ALDS that saw Game 1 interrupted by rain and the Yankees lose a heartbreaker in five.
Even as Evan looks at the Astros as more of a rival (and Tommy says Cleveland ‘isn’t the Twins), he knows his history.
“The better answer would have been the Tigers; they give the Yankees issues if you look at their history,” Evan said. “I can name three rounds off the top of my head where the Yankees have lost to them.”
He named 2006 as well as ’11 and ’12, so maybe that’s the worse matchup, even if the last loss was over a decade ago?
“Would you agree though, that the Sandy Alomar moment though is bigger than A-Rod throwing the ball?” Tommy asked.
“No; Alomar is definitely up there, but to me, the most significant Yankees-Indians moment is 1998, being down 2-1 to Cleveland, the only piece of adversity the greatest team we’ve ever seen faced all year,” Evan replied. “El Duque comes out, they win game four, they win game five. they close them out in six. That’s it, the most important moment.
Tommy tried to rationalize that any loss Mariano Rivera took just cut deeper, but even Evan had to say that 1997 was Mariano’s first year as closer, so it wasn’t as big as ’01 or ’04.
“I agree, and that’s crazy that's where you guys go immediately,” Shaun said. “I just go Joba with the Midges and that meltdown. That’s my number one.”
These guys won’t agree and Tiki stayed out of it mostly, but Yankees fans, who do you want?