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What's going right for the Cleveland Guardians? And can they challenge the Yankees atop the American League?

The Guardians beat the Yankees 9-4 on Tuesday in New York in these teams’ first meeting of the season. The Guardians, at 35-27, lead the AL Central, while the Yankees (36-24) are second in the AL East. They’re looking like two of the strongest teams in the American League, and their series this week in the Bronx, followed by another next week in Cleveland, could tell us a lot about how these squads compare.

On the latest episode of “Baseball Bar-B-Cast,” Jordan Shusterman and guest host Zack Meisel of The Athletic discussed what’s going well for the team in Cleveland.

“This is a team that has three rookies thriving,” Meisel said, referring to Parker Messick, Travis Bazzana and Chase DeLauter. “There’s a little bit of the Guardians that people are accustomed to, where they don’t hit for a ton of power and it’s just slapping the ball all over the place and running and pitching well … but I think there’s a little bit more legitimacy to this team because of the rookies.

“Messick is supposed to be a rookie who’s terrified of the big moment, like a lot of young players would be, and yet he is just fearless,” Meisel continued. “And it’s the same for Travis Bazzana, who has come up and looked like a polished veteran, drawing walks. … Another rookie, Chase DeLauter, debuted in a playoff elimination game last season.

“It’s team that has young players who don’t look like they’re young or inexperienced or daunted by anything.”

Case in point: Bazzana drove in three runs with a two-out, bases-clearing double in the eighth inning Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. The Guardians also knocked Yankees starter Cam Schlittler out after 4 1/3 innings and 4 earned runs, marking the young star’s worst outing of this season.

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Shusterman noted that for years now, pitching and run-prevention have been the backbone of the Guardians, and while the team looks a little different this year, that’s still a strength.

“People are so used to assuming that the pitching is elite, and there are some components of that still in place,” he said, highlighting Cade Smith’s emergence as the Guardians’ closer in Emmanuel Clase’s absence.

“For him to seamlessly be able to transition to just be one of the best closers in baseball is not that surprising, because we watched him as a rookie, and yet, what a luxury. And that’s a credit to Smith and the Guardians. That’s an incredible thing to have.”

The Guardians are one of only three teams in baseball, along with the Dodgers and Braves, that have not been swept this season. And after their win Tuesday, they won’t be swept by the Yankees this week, either.

Zooming out, Shusterman remarked that anytime the Guardians meet the Yankees, which has happened a lot in the postseason in recent years, it’s a matchup of David vs. Goliath — and a gut check for the small-market, low-payroll Guardians.

“Against teams like New York, the talent on the other side, the payroll, the star power, the overwhelming amount of physical ability … is stark,” he said.

Noted Meisel: “This is not new to this decade. This franchise hasn’t won a World Series since 1948. And it feels like every time they get to the postseason, they’re facing the Yankees.”

In his mind, that’s perhaps fitting.

“If the Guardians are ever going to win a World Series — and again, it’s been 78 years — it feels like they need to get past the Yankees in the playoffs for it to feel correct.”

So can the Guardians’ new crop of rookies help them finally eliminate the Yankees in October? Cleveland fans might get to find out in a few months.

“These guys are so far from reaching their peaks,” Shusterman said of the young Guards, “so counting on them to lead them past the Yankees as rookies is absurd.

“At the same time, those are the kinds of players that just make your team feel more threatening when it does get to October.”

For more on the Guardians, Yankees and other MLB topics, listen to “Baseball Bar-B-Cast” wherever you get your podcasts.

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