The New York Yankees cruised past the Minnesota Twins in the American League Wild Card game Tuesday evening by the final score of 8-4, so we now know the matchups for both series in the American League. The final four teams in the AL include the Ny Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox and the Houston Astros. By this time next week, it will be down to the final two in the both leagues and once again the odds to win the 2017 World Series will shift.

Yankees, Indians boast top-notch pitching

Taking nothing away from the Minnesota Twins, it only seems fitting that the Yankees advanced to face the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS.

By many experts standards, this will be a battle of Cleveland’s top-ranked starting pitchers against the best bullpen in league belonging to the Yankees.

Cleveland has the pleasure of sending an ace to the mound nearly every night as manager Terry Francona’s Tribe arguably boasts baseball's best rotation. Led by AL Cy Young Award favorite Corey Kluber along with the hard-throwing Carlos Carrasco, Cleveland hs a nice one-two punch that sets up nicely for a playoff series. Oh, by the way, let’s not forget about relief ace Andrew Miller and closer Cody Allen.

On the other side of the coin, if Yankees manager Joe Girardi can get some good outings out of his starters he has a bullpen that has been close to unbeatable so far in 2017.

MLB.com indicates that the Yankees bullpen ranked first in the Majors in WAR (9.2, per Fangraphs), strikeouts per nine innings (10.9), strikeout percentage (29.1) and opponents' average (.201). That my friends is what they call “lights out” when it comes to the back end of a pitching staff.

Schedule, Series odds, and prediction

So how do you pick a winner of this series when they both can hit and pitch well? Think about this. The Indians followed up its pennant-winning 2016 campaign with a 102-win season this year. Oh, by the way, let's not forget about that 22-game winning streak the Tribe rolled off in the second half which propelled them to the best finish in baseball this season.

Cleveland finished the 2017 regular season winning 33 of their final 37 games.

The Yankees weren't too bad themselves. In what many thought would be a rebuilding year, the Bombers won 91 games - outscoring their opponents in 2017 by 198 runs, second only to the Indians +254 margin in major leagues.

Las Vegas oddsmakers have the Indians listed as the series favorites over the Yankees in the 2017 ALDS. The series price varies depending on which sportsbook you look at, but the average price is set at Cleveland -185, with the comeback on New York at +145. This is a tough one to call, but it is hard to go against the red-hot Indians.

Below is a look at the entire schedule for the Yankees vs Indians series.

Games will air on Fox Sports1 and MLB Network nationally as indicated below. Games aired on FS1 will also stream live on Fox Sports Go.

Pick - Cleveland in 5

ALDS schedule

  • Game 1: Thu, Oct 5 -- New York at Cleveland -- 7:38 p.m. FS1
  • Game 2: Fri, Oct 6 -- New York at Cleveland -- 5:08 p.m. MLBN
  • Game 3: Sun, Oct 8 -- Cleveland at New York -- TBD FS1
  • Game 4* Mon, Oct 9 -- Cleveland at New York TBD FS1
  • Game 5* Wed, Oct 11 -- NY at Cleveland TBD FS1 *if necessary
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