Yankees Weekly Watch: Gerrit Cole starts twice against the best of the AL Central

The New York Yankees play two of the best teams in the AL Central this week with Gerrit Cole projected to face each club once.

The New York Yankees enter another week with two new opponents on the schedule. After getting a taste of what the Baltimore Orioles have to offer this year, the Yankees turn their attention to a pair of American League Central title chasers.

The AL Central might be one of the weaker divisions in the game, but on any given Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc. there’s a chance for even a last-place club to take down a team like the Yankees. They’ll need to be alert this week.

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Here’s what Yankees fans should be watching for this week:

Apr. 10 Yankees vs. Guardians

The Yankees begin their week facing the team they opened their 2022 playoffs against, the Cleveland Guardians. The setting for this series is out in Ohio as the Guardians look to get some vengeance on the Yankees. The projected pitching matchup for this one does look lopsided with Domingo German going for New York and Shane Bieber starting for Cleveland. This will be a tough one to win, particularly if Bieber is at his best.

Apr. 11 Yankees vs. Guardians

The Guardians will get a taste of the Yankees ace in this one with Gerrit Cole projected to make the start for New York. Cole has been brilliant in his first two starts. He goes into this game 2-0 with a 0.73 ERA and 19 strikeouts through 12.1 innings of work. The Guardians will have their work cut out for them against the ace. Hunter Gaddis will get the ball for them with a huge obstacle staring him in the face.

Apr. 12 Yankees vs. Guardians

The series ends with a matchup of Clarke Schmidt against Aaron Civale — good pitchers capable of leading their team to victory but this may be more of a game between the two offenses. The Guardians are a surprisingly protective team at the plate even with a somewhat shallow lineup at first glance. With players like Myles Straw using his speed and the all-around abilities of Andres Gimenez and Jose Ramirez, Schmidt won’t have much room for error. Civale shouldn’t scare the Yankees too much. More frightening may be how good the bullpen has been to start the year. Getting to him early and often will be important.

Apr. 13 Yankees vs. Twins

The Yankees come back home from Cleveland to host four games against the Minnesota Twins. Ever since the Boston Red Sox ended their curse, it seems like the Yankees have turned their attention to holding the Twins under their heel. They’ve gotten off to a solid start this season. This is an outing where Jhony Brito could get the ball for New York to open up the series. Another strong effort from him and it’s time to start discussing how he needs to stay in the big leagues.

Apr. 14 Yankees vs. Twins

Fans will hope the beating continues on April 14 when game two against the Twins commences. By this point, Twins fans will have either been happy to see Carlos Correa return or enter full-on anger mode. As long as the team is winning, an early slump could be forgiven. As big of a name as Correa is, it might be the pitching the Yankees have to worry about most. It’s early but all of the Twins starters have gotten off to strong beginnings. This includes former Yankee Sonny Gray and one-time Brian Cashman trade target Pablo Lopez.

Apr. 15 Yankees vs. Twins

Saturday’s game will have the Bronx lineup facing another righty. How do we know this already? It’s all the Twins have. This is a series where the left-handed Yankees hitters who haven’t woken up need to dazzle. Aaron Judge should be a participant in every game. Throughout the course of their series versus Minnesota, players like Anthony Rizzo need to light up the opposing pitchers. It wouldn’t hurt if Gleyber Torres continues to remind the front office why they were correct in not trading him.

Apr. 16 Yankees vs. Twins

The series ends in what could be a matchup between Gerrit Cole and Pablo Lopez. Cole would be coming off a start against Cleveland and possibly looking for his fourth-straight masterful outing. Something fans should be paying close attention to in this game is how Anthony Volpe has performed. It’s not unusual for a player in his position to see his placement with the ball club change if he’s not performing well. The off-day after could be an opportunity for Aaron Boone and Company to reassess the shortstop plan. Hopefully, by the time we get to this game, Volpe has proven he should stick around.