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Because of the weather forecast in Cleveland, Game 5 of the American League Division Series is now a Saturday matinee between the Cleveland Guardians and the Detroit Tigers.

One of those teams will see their season come to an end Saturday. The other will head to the Bronx to face the New York Yankees in the championship series.

Will it be ace Tarik Skubal and the upstart “Gritty Tigs” moving on? Or will the AL Central champion Guardians hold off the underdogs?

We have you covered with pregame predictions, live updates and analysis, followed by our takeaways after the final pitch.

Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Guardians, 1:08 p.m.

Series tied 2-2

Pitching matchup: Tarik Skubal (18-4, 2.39 ERA) vs. Matthew Boyd (2-2, 2,72 ERA)

Lineups

Tigers

TBA

Guardians

TBA


What is the key to Game 5 for the Tigers?

Jesse Rogers: Just don’t make mistakes and let Tarik Skubal do his thing. The Tigers are likely to get some traffic on the bases against Matthew Boyd — perhaps playing some small ball will come in handy — but not beating themselves will be as important as anything in a hostile environment at Progressive Field. That means not running into outs or making Skubal get four or five outs in an inning. Once Skubal comes out of the game — if he comes out — then it’s on manager A.J. Hinch to exploit the right matchups. He has done it most of the series.

David Schoenfield: That’s essentially my take as well. I feel as if the Tigers need to get a couple of early runs against Boyd before getting into the principal part of the Cleveland bullpen — Cade Smith, Tim Herrin, Hunter Gaddis and Emmanuel Clase. Especially since you know Guardians manager Stephen Vogt‘s plan has to include Clase perhaps pitching two innings. (Yes, the Tigers have gotten to him in two of his appearances, but I wouldn’t bet on that happening a third time.)

The only trouble here for Detroit: Where are those runs going to come from? Kerry Carpenter wouldn’t have been in the starting lineup anyway against a left-hander, and now his status is unclear after injuring his hamstring in Game 4. Riley Greene? Colt Keith? Parker Meadows? All three are lefty hitters who don’t do much against left-handed pitchers. That means guys such as Andy Ibanez and Justyn-Henry Malloy, not to be confused with Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder, will have to step up.


What is the key to Game 5 for the Guardians?

Rogers: They have two options: Squeeze a run or two off Skubal and hope their great bullpen can keep Detroit off the board after Boyd gives them a few innings, or do what they did in Game 2 — outlast Skubal and then score. That’s the formula. Easier said than done. Here’s the bottom line: The way Skubal is pitching, Cleveland will have no chance if Boyd or someone else has a bad outing. So keeping it close is really the Guardians’ only option. Jose Ramirez building off of his last game would help greatly.

Schoenfield: If possible, force Skubal to run up his pitch count and get him out as soon as possible. Unfortunately for the Guardians, one of the things that has made Skubal the best starter in the majors this season is his pitch efficiency. Even in his two playoff starts, he has thrown only 88 and 92 pitches, yet still gone six and seven innings. In the regular season, he went past 100 pitches only four times. If the Guardians can get him to that point through five innings rather than seven, they’ll have a chance. Yes, the Detroit bullpen has mostly been lights out for two months, but we finally saw it bend in Game 4 when it surrendered four runs, and it feels as if Cleveland can do some damage there again. And, yes, Jose Ramirez doing Jose Ramirez stuff would help greatly indeed.


Which team will move on to face the Yankees in the ALCS?

Rogers: I’m not betting against the zone Skubal is in right now. If he had shown any cracks last outing or back when the postseason began, maybe I’d pick Clevleand. The Guardians have already bucked one franchise trend by staving off elimination — they had lost their previous 11 attempts heading into Game 4 — but they’re not going to do it again. But it will be a close game. It would be shocking if it wasn’t.

Schoenfield: I’m going with the Guardians, with a 2-1 victory. Maybe they scratch out a run against Skubal. Maybe they score a couple of runs late against the Detroit bullpen. Either way, I think the Cleveland bullpen — the best in the majors all season — comes up big with the season on the line, and the Guardians pull out a low-scoring win. How about a Ramirez walk-off to win it?

Live updates

Tune in at game time for live updates and analysis of Game 5.

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Sources: Red Sox deal Devers to Giants in stunner

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Sources: Red Sox deal Devers to Giants in stunner

The San Francisco Giants are acquiring All-Star slugger Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Sunday evening.

The Giants are sending starter Jordan Hicks and 23-year-old lefty Kyle Harrison, among others, to Boston in exchange, sources said.

Devers, 28, is in just the second season of a 10-year, $313.5 million contract he signed to stay in Boston in January 2023, however his relationship with the team suffered a significant blow after the star third baseman was reportedly blindsided by a move to designated hitter in the spring.

Tensions flared again last month after Devers refused an offer from the team to move him to first base after starting first baseman Triston Casas was ruled out for the season with a knee injury.

It reached a point where Red Sox owner John Henry met with the disgruntled star, making a rare trip to meet the team on the road and smooth things over after Devers’ pointed comments about the request to switch positions again.

Hicks and Harrison give a pitching-starved Red Sox team more depth on their staff while Devers provides a huge boost to a middling Giants offense.

Devers has more than 200 career home runs to his name and has a .894 OPS for Boston this season.

The deal was first reported by Fansided.

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Ohtani’s pitching return might be coming soon

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Ohtani's pitching return might be coming soon

Shohei Ohtani‘s pitching debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers might be quickly approaching.

Manager Dave Roberts told reporters Sunday that Ohtani would throw another simulated game in the coming days that could “potentially” be his last one, and a source told ESPN’s Buster Olney that Ohtani should join the Dodgers’ rotation “sooner rather than later,” potentially within the week.

Ohtani took a big step forward during his most recent simulated game at Petco Park on Tuesday, throwing 44 pitches over the course of three innings against a couple of lower-level minor league players. Ohtani’s fastball reached the mid- to upper-90s, and he exhibited good command of his off-speed pitches in what amounted to his third time facing hitters. Afterward, Roberts said there was a “north of zero” chance Ohtani could join the rotation before the All-Star break.

Because of his two-way designation, the Dodgers can carry Ohtani as an extra pitcher, which means he can throw two to three innings and have someone pitch after him as a piggyback starter. At this point, it seems that is the Dodgers’ plan.

The Dodgers’ pitching staff has again been plagued by injury, with 14 pitchers on the injured list, including four starting pitchers the team was heavily counting on for 2025 — Blake Snell, Tony Gonsolin, Roki Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow.

If Ohtani returns in July — the likely outcome at this point — he will be 22 months removed from a second repair of his ulnar collateral ligament.

The update isn’t as optimistic for Sasaki. He paused his throwing program and is set for a lengthy layoff. Sasaki has not pitched in a game since May 9 and is not part of the team’s long-term pitching plans this season.

“I think that’s what the mindset should be,” Roberts said. “Being thrust into this environment certainly was a big undertaking for him, and now you layer in the health part and the fact he’s a starting pitcher, knowing what the build-up [required to return] entails … I think that’s the prudent way to go about it.”

Sasaki, 23, went 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA in eight starts after joining the Dodgers from the Pacific League’s Chuba Lotte Marines, averaging less than 4⅓ innings per start. He walked 22 and struck out 24 in 34⅓ innings, and his fastball averaged 95.7 mph, down 3-4 mph from his average in Japan.

Roberts said Sasaki was pain free when he resumed throwing in early June, but the pitcher was shut down after feeling discomfort this past week. Sasaki recently received a cortisone injection in the shoulder; Roberts said no further scans are planned.

“I don’t think it’s pain,” Roberts said. “I don’t know if it’s discomfort, if it’s tightness, if he’s just not feeling strong, whatever the adjective you want to use. That’s more of a question for Roki, as far as the sensation he’s feeling.

“He’s just not feeling like he can ramp it up, and we’re not going to push him to do something he doesn’t feel good about right now.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Judge 1-for-12 as NY swept: Got to swing at strikes

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Judge 1-for-12 as NY swept: Got to swing at strikes

BOSTON — Aaron Judge blamed himself for swinging at pitches outside the strike zone as the New York Yankees were swept in a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox.

“You got to swing at strikes,” Judge said after going 1-for-12 in the series, which Boston completed with a 2-0 victory on Sunday.

Judge struck out three or more times in three straight games for only the third time in his major league career.

“That usually helps any hitter when you swing at strikes,” Judge added. “Definitely some pitches off the edge or off the edge in, you know, taking some hacks just trying to make something happen.”

Judge had a tying solo homer in the opener Friday night but struck out nine times as the Yankees were swept in a series for the first time this season.

New York scored only four runs in the three games, matching its fewest in a three-game series at Fenway Park, on June 20-22, 1916 and on Sept. 28-30, 1922.

“It’s very hard,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of facing Judge. “He’s so good at what he does. We used our fastballs in the right spots, we got some swing and misses.”

“Throughout the years we’ve been aggressive with him,” Cora added. “Sometimes he gets us, sometimes we do a good job with that. It’s always fun to compete against the best, and, to me, he’s the best in the business right now.”

Judge’s major league-leading average dipped to .378.

“I don’t think much of it,” teammate Ben Rice said. “If I could have that guy hitting every single at-bat even if he’s not at his best, I would do it. I’m sure he’ll bounce back. He’ll be all right.”

Judge faced Garrett Whitlock with two on in the eighth Sunday and bounced into an inning-ending double play.

“He’s one of the greatest hitters in the world,” Whitlock said. “It’s special to watch him play and everything. We tried to execute and had some execution this weekend.”

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