The New York Yankees hit the road for Game 3 of the ALCS against the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday at 5:08 p.m. ET at Progressive Field. The Yankees have a 2-0 series lead.
The Yankees (-119 moneyline odds to win) and the Guardians (-101) will square off in a projected close contest. The Yankees are set to send out Clarke Schmidt (5-5, 2.85 ERA) against the Guardians and Matthew Boyd (2-2, 2.72 ERA).
Tuesday, the Yankees claimed a 6-3 victory over the Guardians, with Clay Holmes (0.2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 K) earning the win for the Yankees. Aaron Judge finished 1-for-3 with a home run and three RBI to lead the offense. Tanner Bibee (1.1 IP, 2 R, 5 H, 2 K) was handed the loss for the Guardians.
Before watching the Yankees vs. Guardians, here is what you need to know about Thursday’s playoff action, including viewing options.
New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Guardians odds and betting lines
MLB odds courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook. Odds updated Thursday at 9:18 a.m. ET. For a full list of Sports betting odds, access USA TODAY Sports Betting Scores Odds Hub.
- Favorite: Yankees (-119, bet $119 to win $100)
- Underdog: Guardians (-101, bet $101 to win $100)
- Over/under: 7.5
Yankees stats and trends
Yankees betting records
- This season, the Yankees have been favored 136 times and won 79, or 58.1%, of those games.
- New York has entered 128 games this season favored by -119 or more and is 74-54 in those contests.
- The oddsmakers’ moneyline implies a 54.3% chance of a victory for the Yankees.
- So far this season, New York and its opponents have hit the over in 87 of 166 games with a total.
- The Yankees have an ATS record of 83-82-0 in 165 games with a spread this season.
Clarke Schmidt (Yankees probable starter)
- Schmidt (5-5 with a 2.85 ERA and 93 strikeouts in 85 1/3 innings pitched) gets the start for the Yankees, his 17th of the season.
- In his last appearance on Wednesday, Oct. 9 against the Kansas City Royals, the right-hander went 4 2/3 innings, allowing two earned runs while surrendering four hits.
- In 16 games this season, the 28-year-old has a 2.85 ERA and 9.8 strikeouts per nine innings, while allowing a batting average of .230 to opposing hitters.
- Schmidt is trying to collect his third quality start of the season in this game.
- Schmidt is trying to collect his 14th start of five or more innings this year in this outing.
- In three of his 16 total appearances this season he has not surrendered an earned run.
- The opposing Guardians offense has a collective .238 batting average, and is 25th in the league with 1263 total hits and 14th in MLB action with 708 runs scored. It has the 16th-ranked slugging percentage (.395) and ranks 12th in home runs (185) in all of MLB.
- Schmidt has thrown five innings, giving up one earned run on three hits while striking out seven against the Guardians this season.
Yankees batting stats
- The Yankees have hit 237 homers to lead Major League Baseball this season.
- Hitters for New York have a combined .429 slugging percentage this season, which ranks fourth in MLB.
- The Yankees rank eighth in MLB with a .248 team batting average.
- New York is among the highest-scoring teams in the majors, ranking third with 815 total runs this season.
- The Yankees are among the best in the league at getting on base, ranking third with an OBP of .333.
- New York is ranked 11th in strikeouts per game (8.2) among MLB offenses.
Guardians stats and trends
Guardians betting records
- The Guardians have been victorious in 28, or 45.2%, of the 62 contests they have been chosen as underdogs in this season.
- Cleveland has a mark of 17-32 in contests where bookmakers favor it by -101 or worse on the moneyline.
- Oddsmakers have implied with the moneyline set for this matchup that the Guardians have a 50.2% chance of pulling out a win.
- Contests with Cleveland has gone over the total set by sportsbooks in 73 of 168 chances this season.
- The Guardians are 85-82-0 against the spread in their 167 games with a line set by sportsbooks this season.
Matthew Boyd (Guardians probable starter)
- Boyd (2-2 with a 2.72 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 39 2/3 innings pitched) gets the start for the Guardians, his ninth of the season.
- In his most recent outing on Saturday against the Detroit Tigers, the left-hander threw two scoreless innings while surrendering one hit.
- In eight games this season, the 33-year-old has put up a 2.72 ERA and 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings, while giving up a batting average of .213 to his opponents.
- Boyd heads into this outing with three quality starts under his belt this season.
- Boyd has pitched five or more innings in a game five times this year heading into this matchup.
- He allowed one or more earned runs in all of his appearances in 2024.
- The opposing Yankees offense has the fourth-ranked slugging percentage (.429) and ranks first in home runs hit (237) in all of MLB. They have a collective .248 batting average, and are 11th in the league with 1352 total hits and third in MLB play scoring 815 runs.
- In 5 1/3 innings over one appearance against the Yankees this season, Boyd has a 5.06 ERA and a 1.5 WHIP while his opponents are hitting .200.
Guardians batting stats
- The Guardians average 1.1 home runs per game to rank 12th in MLB action with 185 total home runs.
- So far this year, Cleveland is 16th in baseball with a .395 slugging percentage.
- The Guardians are 21st in the majors with a .238 batting average.
- The offense for Cleveland is the No. 14 offense in the majors, scoring 4.4 runs per game (708 total runs).
- The Guardians rank 18th in baseball with an on-base percentage of .307.