Regardless of what happens tonight, the 2017 Yankee season has to be categorized as a rousing success. 91 regular season wins, game 5 in the ALDS against last year’s AL champs when no one expected more than 86 wins, if they were lucky.
Of course, one can make the case that the series might already be over if Girardi hadn’t blown game two. My take is that without him, they wouldn’t be in the playoffs period. He did a great job handling the young players and fostering a winning attitude.
If Sabathia can give them five innings and give up less than two runs, they have a great shot with their rested bullpen. Kluber needs to be great for the Tribe to win, and he has been all year, the last game excepted. This should be a classic 3-2 pitchers’ duel. Naturally, when you expect a low scoring game, both pitchers stink and somebody wins 9-8.
