Cleveland, OH
ALCS-Hitting Stars May Shine As New York Yankees Face Cleveland Guardians
CLEVELAND, OH – OCTOBER 12: Jose Ramirez #11 of the Cleveland Guardians looks on prior to Game 5 of … [+]
Defeating the Kansas City Royals in their American League Division Series, the New York Yankees proved they are more an orchestra than a one-man band.
Their victory was a total team effort.
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge got only two hits in 18 plate appearances against the pesky Royals.
Now, Judge and his Yankees will take on the underdog Cleveland Guardians in the American League Championship Series.
The series could come down to the Yankees power vs. the Guardians bullpen.
Game 1 of the best-of-seven ALCS began October 14 in Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees won the game, 5-2. Both Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton homered in the game.
CLEVELAND, OHIO – OCTOBER 12: Lane Thomas #8 of the Cleveland Guardians celebrates a grand slam … [+]
Guardians Defeat The Tigers:
While the Yankees were eliminating the Royals, the other American League Division Series saw the Guardians defeat the Detroit Tigers in five games.
To advance to the ALCS against the Yankees, the Guardians beat presumptive American League Cy Young Award Winner, Tarik Skubal, in the fifth and deciding game of the series.
A fifth inning grand slam blast by Guardians center fielder Lane Thomas put the Guardians ahead in the game. They hung on and won, 7-3.
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – OCTOBER 10: Juan Soto #22 of the New York Yankees looks on prior to the game … [+]
“Don’t Let These Guys Beat You”
Pre-game locker room meetings generally include the manager saying something like, “Don’t let these guys beat you.” He then lists the guys his pitching staff has to control.
Guardians manager Steven Vogt has probably listed Yankees sluggers Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton.
In the regular season, those three hit 126 combined home runs.
Judge hit 58. Soto hit 41. Stanton hit 27.
Cleveland’s pitchers have to keep those three sluggers in check.
The Guardians can’t come close to matching the firepower of Judge, Soto, and Stanton.
The Guardians, however, do have Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor hitting in the third and fourth spots in their lineup.
Ramirez, one of the game’s best pure hitters, and Naylor, can carry the club when they get hot.
Ramirez, a switch-hitter, finished the season with 39 homers, and 41 stolen bases. He also stroked 39 doubles.
Naylor, a streaky left-handed hitter, blasted 31 homers, and 27 doubles.
In short, it would not surprise this scout if these five players are consequential in determining the ultimate outcome of the American League Championship Series:
Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Ramirez, and Josh Naylor.
We saw Soto and Stanton shine in Game 1.
The Guardians bats can turn very cold at times.
The Yankees, too, can become very inconsistent.
Good pitching may win the series.
The Guardians have adequate starters, and a wonderful, but tired bullpen.
The Yankees have adequate starters, and a rejuvenated, excellent bullpen.
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – OCTOBER 10: Gerrit Cole #45 of the New York Yankees celebrates after a win … [+]
Pitching Matchups:
fangraphs.com projects the following pitching matchups for the ALCS:
October 14-Game 1-at New York=Yankees LHP Carlos Rodon started vs. Guardians RHP Alex Cobb
October 15-Game 2-at New York=Yankees RHP Gerrit Cole vs. Guardians RHP Tanner Bibee
October 17-Game 3-at Cleveland= Yankees RHP Clarke Schmidt vs. Guardians LHP Matthew Boyd
October 18-Game 4-at Cleveland= Yankees RHP Luis Gil vs. Guardians RHP Gavin Williams
If necessary, the series would continue as follows:
October 19-Game 5-at Cleveland
October 21-Game 6-at New York
October 22-Game 7-at New York
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – OCTOBER 10: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees celebrates after a win … [+]
Lineups and Supporting Casts:
Both the Yankees and Guardians have a roster of players capable of stepping up in big games.
Fangraphs.com lists the following starting lineups-
Yankees:
Gleyber Torres-2B
Juan Soto-RF
Aaron Judge-CF
Austin Wells-C
Giancarlo Stanton-DH
Jazz Chisholm-3B
Anthony Rizzo-1B
Anthony Volpe-SS
Alex Verdugo-LF
Cleveland Guardians’ Steven Kwan relaxes at third base between pitches during the second inning of … [+]
Guardians:
Steven Kwan-LF
Kyle Manzardo-DH against RHP, or David Fry against LHP
Jose Ramirez-3B
Josh Naylor-1B
Lane Thomas-CF
Andres Gimenez-2B
Will Brennan-RF against RHP or Jhonkensy Noel against LHP
Bo Naylor-C
Brayan Rocchio-SS
Cleveland Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase throws during a workout Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in New … [+]
Bullpen Strengths:
The Guardians bullpen may be the greatest strength of their team.
The Guardians feature Emmanuel Clase as their closer. His wicked slider/cutter combination is very tough to navigate.
Hunter Gaddis, Cade Smith and lefty Tim Herrin have been outstanding in setting-up Clase.
The Guardians bullpen is deep, superb, and likely overworked.
The Yankees bullpen is becoming a strength of their club.
Veteran right-hander Luke Weaver has stabilized the closer’s role since taking over for Clay Holmes.
This is the first year Weaver has saved games, and he’s been outstanding.
Holmes seems more comfortable and effective in a set-up role.
Right-hander Tommy Kahnle will likely also be used in the high leverage seventh or eighth innings.
Conclusions:
New York is favored in the American League Championship Series, but the Guardians are a pesky, scrappy baseball team.
Often times a player like Lane Thomas of the Guardians, or Jazz Chisholm of the Yankees can be the hero in a seven-game series.
Perhaps the short right field porch in Yankee Stadium is consequential.
This old scout still looks for heroics to come from among Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Ramirez or Josh Naylor.
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – A U.S. Navy warship will be commissioned in Ohio on Saturday for the first time in 250 years.
The USS Cleveland is docked on Lake Erie ahead of the 10 a.m. ceremony.
Commander Bruce Hallett has commanded the USS Cleveland for more than two years.
“It is extremely exciting to be able to bring the USS Cleveland here to Cleveland and to be able to commission this ship here — obviously to introduce it to the city so that they can see the ship that bears their name,” Hallett said. “This has been a long time coming.”
The ship’s hallways are named after Cleveland streets, including East 9th and St. Clair Avenue.
A mural honoring the city of Cleveland is displayed on board. The Navy says it is rare to see something like this on a warship.
“Amazing mural, right? We’re so proud to have that on board,” Hallett said. “We’re just pretty much in awe when we saw all the stuff that we have in the city, and now we have it as part of the Cleveland. We love it as a crew.”
The ship’s weight room was outfitted by the Cleveland Browns with flags, towels, and mats.
“The Browns came and added their own touches to that weight room,” Hallett said. “So it’s all swagged out with all kinds of Cleveland Browns stuff now.”
The ship carries a crew of about 90, including two sailors who grew up in Cleveland.
The USS Cleveland is the final Freedom-variant littoral combat ship to be commissioned in the U.S. Navy.
Copyright 2026 WOIO. All rights reserved.
A trio of locally made films will grace area screens, here is your Movie Nerd Report for the week of May 11-17.
Thursday evening will bring the red-carpet premiere of “The Last Shop On Walnut” at the Cedar Lee Theatre (2163 Lee Rd Cleveland Heights, OH 44118) . The film, which was written and directed by Jason Richardson, was mostly shot in Ravenna. It stars Peter Lawson Jones and Cleveland native Kym Whitley. The screening will benefit the Charles & Margaret Jones Endowed Scholarship Fund at College Now. Tickets can be found at this link.
Can’t make the premiere? The Cedar Lee will be playing the film for at least a full week starting Friday!
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“Blood & Rust” the debut feature from Kent State alumni Jeremy Herbert, will be coming to Cranked Up TV on May 19 and The Ashland Cinema (212 Center Street Ashland, OH 44805) will be offering a screening of it this Friday evening at 7 p.m., and it is free!
Sunday at 3:30 p.m. the Capitol Theatre (1390 W.65th Street Cleveland, OH 44102) will present the directorial debut of Frank Calo IV in “Last Call”. Sounds like this one is poised to sell out so click here to grab your tickets.
Over at the Cleveland Cinematheque (11610 Euclid Ave Cleveland, OH 44118) :
Cleveland is fortunate to be one of the five select cities of the Future of Film Is Female Series which highlights films from female and nonbinary filmmakers. The first film in this series kicks off Thursday at 6:30 p.m. with the Midwest road trip film, “Dreams In Nightmares.”
Thursday at 9 p.m. and Friday at 9 p.m. they will present a 4K Restoration of the Dutch classic “Malpertius,” which features Orson Welles.
Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 4:30 p.m. they will present the Italian dramedy “The Last One For The Road.”
Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday at 7:35 p.m. they will present a documentary that explores the effects of colonialism on Northern Argentina in “Our Land.”
Saturday at 8:50 p.m. and Sunday at 5:45 p.m. they will present a 4K Restoration of the Argentinian film “The Headless Woman”
Sunday at 3:30 p.m. they will present the documentary “Four Rational People,” which looks at the Emerson String Quartet’s final performance.
More information about the films and ticket prices are at: cinematheque.cia.edu
At the Nightlight Cinema (30 N High Street Akron, OH 44308):
One of the most acclaimed films of the year is the Canadian drama “Blue Herron,” it is the feature debut of Sophy Romvari, who gained attention for her short films.
They also will be playing the documentary “Steal This Story, Please,” which highlights independent investigative journalist Amy Goodman.
More Information about the films and ticket prices are at: nightlightcinema.com
This weekend there are a trio of new films opening in wide release: The first is one that I would recommend if you are a horror fan – “Obsession”. This film continues a trend where we are seeing Youtubers become filmmakers, in this case it is 26-year-old Curry Barker. This is a spin on “be careful what you wish for” when a young man makes a wish for his crush to love him more than anything else in the world, and it gets increasingly disturbing from there. I personally loved it and thought the performance from actress Inde Navarrette will make her a star.
“Is God Is” is a revenge tale which was based on an award-winning play by Alesha Harris. Harris makes her feature directorial debut and currently the film stands at 95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes!
The other film opening is the latest from director Guy Ritchie, the action-thriller “In The Grey” with Jake Gyllenhall and Henry Cavill.
Rounding out this busy week are some anniversaries hitting screens in “Top Gun” and “Top Gun: Maverick” for one week to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of Tony Scott’s original, and the original “Shrek” is also playing for one week to commemorate its 25th Anniversary (Anniversaries like this are making your resident movie nerd feel old!).
Lastly, I just wanted to wish congratulations to my longtime friend Dave Huffman, who has just been named the new director of The Cleveland Cinematheque! If you have ever attended some of the Late Shift Series back in the day at the Cedar Lee or Capitol, or the 12 Hours of Terror, you know that Dave is a huge cinephile and I am certain will do a great job at the Cinematheque!
Until next week my friends, see ya at the movies!
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – Firefighters battled a grease fire inside a restaurant in the city’s University neighborhood Tuesday morning.
Flames broke out at BurgerIM in the 11400 block of Euclid Ave. around 9:20 a.m.
Cleveland Fire Lt. Mike Norman said there was grease in the hood of the stove, and when someone started cooking, it started the fire.
According to Lt. Norman, the sprinklers inside the restaurant put out the flames.
At this time, damage is estimated at $25,000.
The apartment building was evacuated as a precaution.
Since the fire was inside a restaurant, health officials will now respond to the scene and determine when they can reopen.
There were no injuries.
Copyright 2026 WOIO. All rights reserved.
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