Oct 7, 2018 4 min read

Boston will start former Yankee Nathan Eovaldi rather than Rick Porcello against New York in Game 3 of the AL Division Series tonight.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora says he made the decision because Porcello pitched two-thirds of an inning of relief in Friday’s opener and he wanted to give him an extra day of rest. Porcello is scheduled to pitch Game 4 Tuesday.

New York starts Luis Severino in Game 3, followed by CC Sabathia. The best-of-five series is tied 1-1.

When the yankees’ Aaron Judge walked past Boston’s Fenway Park clubhouse early Sunday morning, Frank Sinatra’s rendition of “New York, New York” blaring from a boom box atop the wheelie bag he was pulling with his left hand.

“It’s a good song. And Aaron, he’s one of our resident deejays, so he’s got a pretty extensive playlist,” New York manager Aaron Boone said later in the day at Yankee Stadium, a smirk filling his face. “We like to hear that song sometimes when we win a big game.”

New York is 19-9 in the postseason at new Yankee Stadium, where boisterous Bronx crowds try to intimidate. The Yankees’ were 53-28 there during the regular season, the second-best home record behind Boston’s 57-24. The win over Oakland in last week’s wild-card game improved New York to 7-0 at home in the postseason since the start of the 2017 playoffs.

“The fans, they’re out there on the field with you,” Judge said. “Every single pitch they’re locked in. It’s electric.”

New York is built for Yankee Stadium, where it takes advantage of the short right-field porch and hit 144 of its record 267 home runs. Boston is constructed in a similar fashion, knowing half its games are played in front of Fenway’s Green Monster lurking in left field.

This will be the first postseason game in the Bronx between the rivals since Boston won Games 6 and 7 of the 2004 AL Championship Series across the street at old Yankee Stadium, becoming the first major league team to overcome a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven postseason series.

Cleveland in familiar hole: The Cleveland Indians are very familiar with the postseason hole they’re currently stuck in. They saw one just like it last October – from above.

At least they know it can be scaled.

But Cleveland’s climb in this AL Division Series seems much steeper than just the 2-0 deficit they’re facing after dropping the first two games in Houston. The defending World Series champion Astros have shown their exceptional pitching and extraordinary depth while outplaying the swing-and-miss Indians in every facet of the game.

“They’ve played pretty much perfect baseball to this point,” Indians third baseman Josh Donaldson said following Saturday’s 3-1 loss. “We have had a couple mistakes the first couple games, and now, it’s our time to respond.”

Or another Cleveland baseball season will end before the leaves change colors.

Astros aces Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole dominated Cleveland’s hitters in Games 1 and 2 as Houston’s pitchers combined on consecutive three-hitters. The Astros piled up 24 strikeouts against one of the league’s most balanced lineups, which is batting a combined .100 in this ALDS. The Indians’ offense was so anemic Saturday that they didn’t have a single at-bat with a runner in scoring position.

If not for Francisco Lindor’s solo homer, Cleveland would have been blanked.

But as bleak as things appear for the three-time AL Central champions, who will start Mike Clevinger in Game 3 today against Dallas Keuchel, only have to look back to last October for inspiration. As painful as that might be.

The Indians jumped out to what appeared to be a commanding 2-0 lead in the ALDS before New York stormed back and won three straight to advance, denying Cleveland a return trip to the World Series and extending the club’s title drought to 70 years.

The Yankees paved the comeback trail. It’s up to the Indians to follow it.

History isn’t on Cleveland’s side, either. Of the teams to take a 2-0 lead at home in 2-2-1 format, 24 of 27 have gone on to win the series.