The New York Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the ALCS on Monday night, thanks to a strong start from left-hander Carlos Rodon to a victory over the Cleveland Guardians.

Cleveland scored just two runs Monday — though it did score its first run of the postseason off the New York bullpen — in a 5-2 loss.

Juan Soto took an early lead for the Yankees, hitting a solo homer, and a few miscues from Cleveland’s pitching staff (wild pitches and walks) allowed the Yankees to open an early lead. Giancarlo Stanton provided a capper with a late solo home run.

New York now turns to its ace, Gerrit Cole, in Game 2 of this series. Oddsmakers heavily favor the Yankees to win, but Cleveland won’t go quietly. It counters with Tanner Bibee, who pitched in Game 1 and Game 4 in the ALDS and led the Guardians to two wins.

Here’s a look at the odds, the key players to watch, and my prediction for Game 2 of the ALCS.

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.

Run line

Moneyline

Total

Cleveland Guardians

Tanner Bibee: Bibee had a strong regular season for the Guardians, allowing just two runs in 8.2 innings of work this postseason. However, the Guardians have not had him throw five full innings in a game this season, meaning they will likely reload their bullpen on Tuesday night. Overall, Cleveland is 24-9 (including playoffs) when Bibee takes the mound this season.

New York Yankees

Aaron Judge: The Yankees need the future 2024 AL MVP to hit the ground running. Judge went 0-for-2 with a walk, run scored and RBI in Game 1, but it was Stanton and Soto who carried this offense in New York in the playoffs. Judge has had his fair share of postseason struggles in his career, but if he can pull through them, this New York offense will be tough to stop.

There’s no doubt the Guardians are good at Bibee’s starts – they’ve won more than 72 percent of them – but I’m not convinced they win this match.

Cole was out slightly in Game 4 of the ALDS against Kansas City, pitching seven innings of one-run ball, matching his strong finish in the regular season. In September, Cole had a 2.53 ERA in five starts, allowing one or fewer earned runs in four of those appearances.

Cleveland’s offense hasn’t really cleared things up so far in the postseason, and the bullpen has taken a step back from ranking No. 1 in ERA in the MLB during the regular season.

Since Bibee hasn’t worked deep in games this postseason, I worry that Cleveland will rack up another 12 or more outs on Tuesday night after taxing the bullpen in Game 1.

On the Yankees side, they’ve allowed just one run from the pen in the postseason, and now they’ll hopefully get some length out of their ace.

I trust Cole to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead on Tuesday.

Pick: Yankees Moneyline (-170)

The odds are updated periodically and are subject to change.

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