Cinderella Guardians dance in ALCS with a chance to make the Yankees pay big money

NEW YORK – The Mets ($350.2 million), Dodgers ($339.9 million) and Yankees ($314.6 million) have the three highest payrolls in baseball, according to luxury tax calculations.

The Guardians are in 21st place with $140.3 million. Their highest-paid player, All-Star third baseman Jose Ramirez, makes $20.14 million per season. There are 13 Dodgers, Mets and Yankees who earn more.

To compare baseball’s Final Four to the actual Final Four would be like leaving UConn, Duke, North Carolina and College of Charleston standing still.

The Cinderella Guardians arrived at Yankees Stadium on Sunday less than 24 hours after their victory in Game 5 of the Division Series against the Tigers at Progressive Field.

Cleveland finished 76-86 last season and hired 39-year-old Stephen Vogt as manager to replace Terry Francona. There was no reset, however, as the Guardians reached the ALCS for the first time since 2016.

“We are worried about ourselves,” Vogt said on Sunday. “We took that into account in every series all year long. We can control what we can and we know the Yankees are good. They played us hard. This is a really good team that we will be playing against.

“But we trust who we are and the only thing we can control is ourselves. “It’s going to be a fun series and we’re really looking forward to it.”

Whatever happens this week, the Guardians have had a good season. The same can’t be said for the Yankees, who haven’t been to the World Series since winning it in 2009.

Since then, they have a 7-20 record in five ALCS appearances and have been outscored by 40 runs.

They took three of four runs from the Royals despite only scoring 14 runs in the series.

“We didn’t have a big breakout run-wise, but I think our guys had a lot of really good at-bats,” said manager Aaron Boone, who finished fourth last season. “The amount of walking we did [27, against 28 strikeouts]I felt like out there, this is what we do.

“I thought our batting quality was strong and strong. Hopefully we’ll be able to break through more in this series and throw some bad shots [numbers] on there.

“But I thought we did a lot of really good things. I feel like the guys are in a really good place heading into this series.”

Aaron Judge drew five of those walks, but otherwise reached base only twice, scored two runs and drove in none. He has a .579 OPS with just six extra-base hits and eight RBIs in his last 21 postseason games.

Judge has faced Cleveland in the postseason three times in his career. He is 6 for 49 (.122) with 21 strikeouts and three RBIs in 12 games. All three hit solo home runs.

“At this point I’ll take four bloop singles. That’s just part of it,” Judge said after the Yankees eliminated the Royals. “Focus on what you can do. Even if you’re 0-for-4, 0-for-3, even if it’s the first at-bat of the game, you have to focus on what you’re going to do in that at-bat, that situation, if any, people when you start an inning.

“The only thing I do is treat it like the regular season, go out and help the team win a game.”

With Juan Soto determined to pursue free agency, the window is now open for the Yankees. There are also four real starters at the start: Carlos Rodón, Gerrit Cole, Clark Schmidt and Luis Gil.

The Guardians have Alex Cobb, Tanner Bibee, and after that they’re not sure. They used an average of six pitchers in Division Series games as Vogt competed with a deep bullpen.

Where Cleveland has an advantage is that Ramirez is one of the best hitters – and best clutch hitters – in the game. Closer Emmanuel Clase allowed three runs in the loss in Game 2 of the Division Series, but saved the final two games by pitching two perfect innings in Game 5.

That and the pressure is on the Yankees.

“We definitely understand that we’re playing for a pennant now, for the right to play in the World Series,” Boone said. “So you’re aware of that. But you also think, man, it’s Game 1. That’s where we’re trying to prepare. In many ways this is still a thing of the future and we still have a series to go. So you understand what it’s about, but it’s all about the game that’s in front of us.”

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Peter Abraham can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @PeteAbe.