by Temperatures in Cleveland will approach 90 degrees throughout the week as the Guardians kick off a six-game homestand starting with a clash with the New York Yankees on Monday. The Guardians are coming off a poor three-game stint against the Texas Rangers, dropping two out of three in Arlington.
After narrowly avoiding a sweep against the Guardians last week, the Yankees split a pair of games with the rival Boston Red Sox at home, with the middle game being postponed.
On the bump for the Guardians will be ace right-hander Gavin Williams, who is in the midst of the best season in his young career. Williams took home the winning decision in all four of his last starts, giving up just six runs and striking out 28 batters in over 26 innings of stellar baseball.
His last start came against these same Yankees, where Williams struck out six and gave up three runs in a little over five innings pitched.
Toeing the rubber for New York will be another young and promising right-hander, the Mississippi native Will Warren. Like Williams, Warren also took home winning decisions in his last four starts, allowing a measly seven runs and punching out 17 batters in over 22 innings of work.
It’s been another upstart season for the Guardians, as they currently sit atop the American League Central Division, two games ahead of the surprising Chicago White Sox. Outside of the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves, the Guards are the only team in all of baseball that has not been on the wrong side of a series sweep in 2026.
However, the underlying problem that has plagued Cleveland this season and years past is their lackluster offense. No one on the team is hitting over .300, and they boast the worst team batting average in all of the American League.
Yet somehow, as Cleveland fans have come to expect, the Guardians still own the AL’s third-best record off the back of a thriving starting rotation.
As for the Yankees, they have also found themselves in similar trends. New York leads all of MLB in home runs, and the AL in total runs.
The offense is loaded as per usual, but perennial MVP candidate Aaron Judge isn’t carrying the load alone. Cleveland will have to be wary of first baseman Ben Rice, who is near the top of nearly every hitting category.
Behind them are a plethora of cunning veterans, with Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt, and Trent Grishman bolstering the rest of a New York lineup that’s looking to overtake the American League-leading Tampa Bay Rays.
The Yankees’ rotation is led by the red-hot Cam Schlittler, who will not be pitching against the Guardians this week, luckily enough for Cleveland. They will be facing the return of veterans Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon after Warren.
Throughout their careers, both Rodon and Cole have found success pitching against the Guardians.
This series stands out as an early litmus test against one of baseball’s strongest clubs for the Guardians. They’ve already taken two out of three against the Yankees on the road, but should Cleveland do that or better against them in back-to-back weeks, expectations widen up a little larger for the Guardians.
A 6:40 p.m. start time is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, with a 1:10 p.m. first pitch on Wednesday.
