New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Guardians: Gerrit Cole vs. Gavin Williams

· Yahoo Sports

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 22: Gerrit Cole #45 of the New York Yankees walks to the dugout during the game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Friday, May 22, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images

Tonight, the Yankees will decidedly be a second-tier act in The City That Never Sleeps. The Knicks, perhaps New York’s greatest unifying force, will be playing in the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years. That sort of occasion tends to take the starch out of all the other concurrent sporting events, but take heart. The Yankees-Guardians contest at the Stadium tonight promises a scintillating pitching matchup—and may wrap up in time for you to catch the second half of the Knicks game if those pitchers are on a roll.

It took until June, but Cam Schlittler finally had a clunker of a start. Good thing the Yankees have the blueprint upon whom Schlittler was based starting right after him. Okay, obviously Gerrit Cole and Cam Schlittler aren’t completely alike, but it’s cool to have both. Cole hasn’t yet allowed a run through his first two starts back in the rotation, and will seek to keep the good times rolling against a Guardians squad looking to break away in the AL Central.

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The Cole Train had a bit extra of extra locomotion in his last start, in which he struck out 10 Royals across 6.2 shutout frames. This young Cleveland lineup presents a tougher task; indeed, most of their breakout players in 2026 are hitters Cole has never faced in regular season play before. But armed with his full complement of weapons, it’s hard to envision catastrophe.

Catastrophe tends to take one form and one form only with Gavin Williams: some days he simply walks too many guys. But when he doesn’t, the 6-foot-6 right-hander is incredibly dangerous. It certainly helps that Williams has free pass rate from 11.8 percent in 2025 to 7.9 percent in 2026. Meanwhile, his always-solid ability to keep hitters on the ground has been paired with some elite swing-and-miss offerings: his sweeper gets hitters to whiff almost 45 percent of the time, while the fastball and curve are running rates around 30 percent. Pair that with his ability to pitch deep into games when his stuff is working, and Williams is starting to look like a true ace—good news for a Cleveland staff that hasn’t had a true number-one guy in a while.

The Bombers might have their hands full, especially since they’re still without Aaron Judge. The Captain needs at least another day after the bone bruise on his rib kept him out of the lineup last night. Said starting nine didn’t do much outside of Paul Goldschmidt, so a more well-rounded attack will likely be needed to take care of Cleveland and even this series.

How to watch:

Location: Yankee Stadium

First pitch: 7:05 pm EDT

TV Broadcast: Amazon Prime Video (NYY); Guardians.TV (CLE)

Radio Broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY); WTAM 1100, WMMS 100.7, Guardians Radio Network (CLE)

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