In the grand scheme of things, the annals of baseball history will probably not remember this Division Series matchup between the Yankees and Guardians very much. It certainly had its moments, and I will still wince when I see highlights of Game 3 sometime down the road (just as I do with that 2017 Francisco Lindor slam). But it came down to one of the best pitchers of this era shoving in two starts against an underwhelming offense for two wins. Straightforward enough, right?
So for all the tedium and hair-pulling involved in Games 2 and 3, the Yankees still had to win just one of the three non-Gerrit Cole starts.