NEW YORK – There is a stark contrast between a baseball clubhouse after a team wins and after a team loses.

After a victory, the bass of the blaring music makes the ground shake. Players sit at round tables and play cards, a Coors in one hand and a pair of fours in the other.

After a loss, it’s so quiet that you can hear the players zipping up their equipment bags, the thud of a stack of $20 bills in a clubhouse attendant’s hand and the squeak of soggy slippers splashing across the carpet.

For two consecutive nights, the visiting clubhouse at Yankee Stadium resembled a library. With the American League Championship Series returning to Progressive Field, how can the Cleveland Guardians turn their postgame area into a party scene? How can they bounce back against the New York Yankees?

Get something out of the starters

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt declined to name a Game 3 starting pitcher Tuesday night, but signs are pointing toward Matthew Boyd. After that it is unknown territory. Ben Lively replaced Alex Cobb on the ALCS roster, ending Cobb’s season after just three regular season starts and two postseason starts (22 total innings as a Guardian, after the July 30 trade). Gavin Williams is still around, even though it’s been a month since he last played in a big league game.

The estimate is that Boyd and Williams will start in Cleveland on Thursday and Friday, respectively. If the series calls for a Game 5, Lively and Tanner Bibee could be the options. Bibee threw just 39 pitches in Game 2. He suspected he could return early, and Vogt said that could be a consideration, though Bibee added he needs to see how his arm bounces back Wednesday before he can be sure.

However they map this out, the Guardians need more from the rotation. Vogt has been aggressive in pulling his starters — they averaged more than three innings per start in October — and with a heat-throwing cyborg named Cade Smith ready to wipe out those in front of him in the batter’s box, it’s understandable to a certain extent. But without an off day for Smith, Hunter Gaddis, Tim Herrin and Emmanuel Clase to catch their breath between Games 3, 4 and 5, Vogt will have to show more patience. It’s up to Boyd, Williams and whoever else to earn his faith.

Get a timely hit or two from the heartbeat of the lineup

It looks like José Ramírez is on the verge of one of his patented tears, but the clock is ticking. He hit a home run to right field off Yankees closer Luke Weaver in the ninth inning of Game 2, and he hit a pair of balls to the outfield in Game 1, but both resulted in loud outs. He’s just a little tap, like when your mom or dad turned the dial on the stereo to find Herb Score’s call, but there was some static accompanying his commentary. With Brayan Rocchio and Steven Kwan reaching base so often, Ramírez has had plenty of opportunities to make money, but even with Tuesday’s ninth-inning explosion, he is 4-for-24 this postseason.

So much attention has been paid to Ramírez as an underrated superstar, especially on this stage, opposite Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, two household names of the MLB, an endangered species in this day and age.

The story prompted Yankees manager Aaron Boone to say before the series that when he hears a talking head describing Ramírez as underrated, “I want to rip my arms off and throw them at the TV.” He is not underrated. He is not underestimated. He’s a great Hall of Fame player, and everyone knows it.”

There’s no better time for him to step into the spotlight and bury that talking point.

Go back to ‘Guardian ball’

The Yankees made a number of base-running blunders that might have kept Game 2 closer than it otherwise would have been, but Cleveland’s self-inflicted errors in both games in the Bronx gave the Guardians an uphill climb. Cobb and Joey Cantillo had a parade of Yankees hitters standing still at the plate and ultimately scoring in Game 1. Rocchio dropped an infield pop-up in the first inning of Game 2. Will Brennan made a few miscues in the right field. Cleveland can’t survive this series with such sloppy play.

“If we want to win some games,” Kwan said, “we’re going to have to play Guard Ball. … Basic baseball: make the plays we need to make, hit runners in scoring position, get the man across.

Get some output from unlikely sources

Cleveland’s catchers are at 0 for October. Bo Naylor is 0-for-14 in the postseason. Austin Hedges is 0-for-9. Their inability to contribute has put Vogt’s pinch hit decisions under a microscope. Hedges was forced to hit twice in the later stages of Game 2 as Vogt called on a pinch hitter to take what would have been Naylor’s second at-bat. The catchers aren’t the only ones shuffling around the plate. Jhonkensy Noel and Brennan, the right field tandem, haven’t offered much. The Guardians could use a boost from Kyle Manzardo, who plans to start the next two games against Yankees righties Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil.

The Guardians’ catchers, including Austin Hedges, have yet to record a hit this postseason. (Elsa/Getty Images)

Rocchio and Kwan sparked the attack. Lane Thomas and David Fry provided some momentum in key moments against Detroit. But it’s pretty easy to predict whether the Guardians have a chance in a playoff game based on the amount of offensive output they muster. In their three wins they scored seven, five and seven points respectively. In their four losses? Zero, zero, two, three. They’ve also had chances (which, Brennan said, makes their 0-2 deficit even more frustrating).

“We’ve been doing this all year,” Bibee said. “I feel like at the beginning of the year, in a lot of people’s eyes, we shouldn’t have been here, but we always knew we had to be here, and we still think That. That doesn’t change just because we are two games behind. There’s a reason it’s a seven-game series.”

(Top photo: Elsa/Getty Images)