The New York Yankees swept Cleveland 2-0 in the best-of-three 2020 AL Wild Card Series at Progressive Field. Gerrit Cole struck out 13 in a 12-3 win over Shane Bieber on September 29, and the Yankees won Game 2 10-9 in a rain-soaked game that started September 30, ended in the early hours of October 1, and ran four hours and 50 minutes, the longest nine-inning game in big-league history.
One night was a coronation. The other was a hostage situation. Both counted the same.
The Bracket Nobody Had Seen Before
The 2020 Yankees went 33-27 in a 60-game season, finished second to Tampa Bay in the AL East, and drew the No. 5 seed in MLB's one-time 16-team bracket. That meant a best-of-three on the road, no fans, against the No. 4 seed: a 35-25 Cleveland club managed on an interim basis by Sandy Alomar Jr. while Terry Francona dealt with health problems.
It also meant Shane Bieber. All Bieber had done in 2020 was lead the American League in wins (eight), ERA (1.63) and strikeouts (122), the pitching triple crown. He'd win the Cy Young that fall. On paper, Game 1 was Bieber against Gerrit Cole, the $324 million ace making his first playoff start in pinstripes, and you could make a decent case for either guy.
Nobody needed to make the case for long.
Game 1: Four Pitches
DJ LeMahieu singled to start the game. Aaron Judge hit Bieber's fourth pitch over the wall for a two-run homer. Two batters, two runs, and the best pitcher in the league suddenly looked like a guy who'd have to grind.
He didn't grind his way out of it. Luke Voit doubled home Aaron Hicks in the third, the lead was 5-2 after four, and in the fifth Gleyber Torres hit a two-run homer that ended Bieber's night. Final line for the Cy Young winner-to-be: 4 2/3 innings, nine hits, seven earned runs. (Hicks didn't even need a hit to hurt him. He walked with two outs in the third and came all the way around on Voit's double.)
Torres went 4-for-4 with a homer, three runs, three RBI and a walk. Brett Gardner capped a four-run seventh with a two-run homer, and Giancarlo Stanton hit a 443-foot solo shot to center in the ninth. Yankees 12, Indians 3.
Cole was the point, though. Seven innings, six hits, two runs, no walks, 13 strikeouts. The only Yankee who'd ever struck out more in a postseason game was Roger Clemens, with 15 in his one-hitter in the 2000 ALCS. Cole also became the first pitcher in big-league history with three postseason starts of 12 or more strikeouts. (The first two came for Houston. We don't need to talk about that.)
The one Cleveland hitter Cole couldn't solve was Josh Naylor, who went 4-for-4 with a single, two doubles and a solo homer. Good for him. It didn't matter.
Game 2: Rain, Walks and a Kid From Cleveland
Game 2 should never have started when it did. A storm was coming, everybody knew it, and MLB sent Masahiro Tanaka and Carlos Carrasco out anyway. Tanaka, normally the coolest customer on the staff in October, couldn't grip the ball in a downpour. Cleveland put up four runs in the first, around a trip back under the tarp. (Who decided that was a good idea? Somebody should have to answer for it.)
Stanton got one back with a solo homer in the second. Then, in the fourth, Hicks singled, and Carrasco walked Voit and Stanton to load the bases with nobody out. Out went Carrasco. In came James Karinchak, a rookie reliever with a nasty curveball who'd struck out 53 hitters in 27 regular-season innings.
The curveball wasn't working. Gio Urshela worked the count full, sat on the fastball, got it, and hit it 432 feet over the wall in left-center. Grand slam. Yankees 5, Indians 4. It was the first postseason grand slam by a Yankees third baseman, and he hit it against the organization that signed him as a 16-year-old, gave him his big-league debut, and then traded him to Toronto for cash. (I'm sure he didn't take any satisfaction in that. None at all.)
From there it turned into a game of hot potato. Stanton's sacrifice fly made it 6-4 in the fifth. Cleveland chased Tanaka in the bottom half (four innings, six runs), and Jose Ramirez greeted Chad Green with a two-run double to tie it. Gary Sanchez, who'd hit .147 in the regular season and gotten benched for it, snuck a two-run homer over the wall in right in the sixth. 8-6.
In the seventh, with two on, Alomar sent Jordan Luplow up to pinch-hit for Naylor. Aaron Boone countered by pulling Zack Britton for Jonathan Loaisiga, and Luplow doubled to center to tie it 8-8. In the eighth, Boone went to Aroldis Chapman, and Cesar Hernandez singled home Delino DeShields to put Cleveland up 9-8.
Here's where Urshela had the best night of his career, part two. Chapman struck out Jose Ramirez, and Carlos Santana smoked a 108.7 mph grounder to Urshela's left. He dove, snagged it, and from the seat of his pants threw to second to start an inning-ending double play. A one-run deficit with three outs to play with beats a three-run deficit every day of the week.
The Ninth
Cleveland handed the ball to Brad Hand, who'd gone 16-for-16 in save chances in 2020 and led the majors in saves. He walked Stanton to start the inning. (Mike Tauchman ran for him.) Urshela singled. Torres singled. Bases loaded, nobody out.
Gardner struck out. Sanchez lifted a fly ball to center deep enough to score Tauchman, 9-9. Then, with two outs, LeMahieu, the AL batting champ, did what he'd done all year and grounded a single up the middle. Urshela scored. 10-9.
Chapman, who'd gotten the last two outs of the eighth on Urshela's glove, finished it in the ninth by striking out pinch-hitter Austin Hedges with the tying run aboard. He got the win, Hand got the loss, and the Yankees got out of Cleveland with a sweep.
The game took four hours and 50 minutes of actual baseball, plus 76 minutes of rain delays. The previous record for a nine-inning game was 4:45 in the regular season and 4:37 in the postseason. The two teams combined for 19 walks. It wasn't pretty. I loved every minute of it, and there were a lot of minutes.
That was one of the best games I ever played in my life.
He wasn't wrong. Grand slam, the winning run, and the play that kept it within reach. Not bad for a guy Cleveland sold for pocket change.
What Came Next
Stanton homered in both games against Cleveland, the start of a five-game postseason homer streak that set a franchise record. The sweep sent the Yankees to San Diego for an ALDS against the top-seeded Rays, and that one ended the way you remember: Mike Brosseau, Chapman, the 10th pitch of an eighth-inning at-bat. The full story's in the 2020 ALDS loss to the Rays, and the rest of the weird 60-game year is in the COVID bubble season.
It was the second time in four Octobers the Yankees had ended Cleveland's season. The first, the 2017 ALDS comeback, took five games and a lot more anxiety. This one took two games, one of which felt like five. Six years later, the Yankees swept another Wild Card Series, 18-2 over Boston, and I promise you it was less stressful.
Cole's night was the one that was supposed to happen. Game 2 is the one people still bring up.
| Series Result | Yankees 2, Cleveland 0 |
| Game 1 (Sept. 29, Cleveland) | Yankees 12, Indians 3 |
| Game 2 (Sept. 30-Oct. 1, Cleveland) | Yankees 10, Indians 9 |
| Gerrit Cole, Game 1 | 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 13 K (W) |
| Shane Bieber, Game 1 | 4 2/3 IP, 9 H, 7 ER (L) |
| Gleyber Torres, Game 1 | 4-for-4, HR, 3 R, 3 RBI, BB |
| Gio Urshela, Game 2 | Go-ahead grand slam, winning run scored |
| Giancarlo Stanton, Series | HR in both games |
| Aroldis Chapman, Game 2 | 2 IP (W) |
| Game 2 Length | 4:50 (plus 76 min. of rain delays) |
| Game 2 Walks | 19 combined |
Judge Homers on Bieber's Fourth Pitch
LeMahieu singles and Judge hits a two-run homer in the first inning of Game 1 at Progressive Field.
Cole Strikes Out 13
Cole allows two runs over seven innings with no walks, and Torres goes 4-for-4. Yankees 12, Indians 3.
Urshela's Grand Slam
Down 4-1 with the bases loaded and nobody out in the fourth, Urshela homers off James Karinchak on a full count. Yankees 5, Indians 4.
Cleveland Retakes the Lead
Luplow's pinch-hit double ties it 8-8 in the seventh, and Hernandez's single off Chapman puts Cleveland up 9-8 in the eighth. Urshela's diving double play ends the inning.
LeMahieu Wins It in the Ninth
Sanchez ties it with a sacrifice fly off Brad Hand, and LeMahieu's two-out single scores Urshela. Chapman strikes out Austin Hedges to end a record 4:50 nine-inning game. Yankees 10, Indians 9.
ALDS Ends in San Diego
The Rays beat the Yankees 2-1 in Game 5 of the ALDS at Petco Park on Mike Brosseau's eighth-inning homer off Chapman.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the 2020 AL Wild Card Series between the Yankees and Cleveland?
The Yankees swept Cleveland 2-0 in the best-of-three series at Progressive Field. They won Game 1 12-3 on September 29, 2020, and Game 2 10-9 in a game that began September 30 and ended early October 1.
How many strikeouts did Gerrit Cole have in the 2020 Wild Card Series?
Cole struck out 13 in Game 1, allowing two runs over seven innings with no walks. It was the second-most strikeouts by a Yankee in a postseason game, behind Roger Clemens' 15 in Game 4 of the 2000 ALCS, and made Cole the first pitcher with three postseason games of 12 or more strikeouts.
How long was Game 2 of the 2020 Yankees-Indians Wild Card Series?
Four hours and 50 minutes, not counting 76 minutes of rain delays. It's the longest nine-inning game in MLB history, beating the previous postseason mark of 4:37 and the regular-season mark of 4:45.
Who hit the grand slam for the Yankees against Cleveland in 2020?
Gio Urshela, a former Cleveland infielder. With the Yankees down 4-1 and the bases loaded in the fourth inning of Game 2, he hit a full-count fastball from James Karinchak 432 feet to left-center for a 5-4 lead. It was the first postseason grand slam by a Yankees third baseman.
Who did the Yankees play after beating Cleveland in 2020?
The Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS at Petco Park in San Diego. The Rays won the series 3-2, taking Game 5 2-1 on October 9 on Mike Brosseau's eighth-inning home run off Aroldis Chapman.