2024 American League Championship Series
Team (Wins) Managers Season New York Yankees (4) Aaron Boone 94–68 (.580), GA: 3 Cleveland Guardians (1) Stephen Vogt 92–69 (.571), GA:6+1⁄2
Dates	October 14–19
MVP	Giancarlo Stanton (New York)
Umpires	Vic Carapazza,Mike Estabrook,Dan Iassogna (crew chief),Gabe Morales,Alan Porter,Chris Segal,Jansen Visconti
Broadcast
Television	TBS TruTV(Datacast) Max
TV announcers	Brian Anderson,Ron Darling,Jeff Francoeur, and Lauren Jbara (TBS) Jon Morosi,Dexter Fowler, and Mike Petriello (TruTV)
Radio	ESPN
Radio announcers	Karl Ravech,Eduardo Pérez, andTim Kurkjian
ALDS	New York Yankees overKansas City Royals (3–1) Cleveland Guardians overDetroit Tigers (3–2)
← 2023 ALCS 2025 →

The2024 American League Championship Series was abest-of-seven playoff inMajor League Baseball's2024 postseason. The top-seededNew York Yankees defeated the second-seededCleveland Guardians, four games to one, to becomeAmerican League (AL) champions for the 41st time. With the victory, the Yankees advanced to the2024 World Series, their first appearance in the World Series since2009. For his performance, Yankees hitterGiancarlo Stanton won theAL Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award.

The series began on October 14 and ended on October 19.TBS/Max televised all games in the United States.^[1][2]

The Yankees faced theNational League championLos Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, where they lost in five games. This was the first ALCS since2016 without theHouston Astros participating in the series.

This is the first American League Championship Series since2016 to not feature theHoustonAstros, who were swept by theDetroit Tigers in theWild Card Series. This brought an end to the Astros' streak of seven consecutive ALCS appearances (2017–2023), the most consecutive LCS appearances in the American League and the second-most consecutive LCS appearances after theAtlanta Braves' consecutive NLCS appearances of eight (1991–1999, excluding 1994 that was not played due to aplayers' strike).

TheNew York Yankees qualified for the postseason as theAmerican League East division winner and the league's top seed. They clinched a playoff berth on September 18, returning to the postseason for the seventh time in eight years. They clinched the division on September 26 with a win over theBaltimore Orioles, which is their third divisional title in six years (2019,2022, and this year). They are playing in their 59th postseason in franchise history, the most postseason appearances by a single team in Major League Baseball history.^[3] In the Division Series, they defeated theKansas City Royals in four games to advance to the American League Championship Series for the 19th time in franchise history, the fourth time in eight years (2017,2019,2022, and this year), and their first ALCS appearance where their opponent is not the Houston Astros since2012.^[4] The Yankees were attempting to win their record 41st American League pennant and return to theWorld Series for the first time since they won their record 27th championship title in2009, which would end their 15-year World Seriesappearance drought.

TheCleveland Guardians qualified for the postseason as theAmerican League Central division winner and the league's second seed. They clinched a playoff berth on September 19, returning to the postseason for the seventh time in 12 years. They clinched the division on September 21 with the Kansas City Royals' loss to the San Francisco Giants, which is their second division title in three years. In the Division Series, they defeated theDetroit Tigers in five games to advance to the American League Championship Series for the first time since2016. Overall, this is their seventh ALCS appearance in franchise history. The Guardians were attempting to return to the World Series for the first time since2016 when they lost in seven games as the Cleveland Indians to theChicago Cubs. The Guardians currently hold thelongest active championship drought in Major League Baseball for 76 years since they last won their championship in1948.

With theNew York Mets having clinched an NLCS berth the night previous, this was the farthest that both New York teams in Major League Baseball have gone in the postseason since2000, which was when the Yankees beat the Mets in theWorld Series in five games.

This series marked the seventh postseason meeting between the two teams, with the Yankees having won four of the previous six meetings. Cleveland defeated New York in the ALDS in1997 and2007, while New York prevailed in the1998 ALCS,2017 ALDS,2020 AL Wild Card, and most recently the2022 ALDS. Both the Yankees and Guardians missed the postseason in 2023. In six head-to-head matchups during the 2024 regular season, the Yankees won four and the Guardians won two.

New York won the series, 4–1.

Game 1 featured starting pitchersCarlos Rodón for the Yankees andAlex Cobb for the Guardians.Juan Soto opened the scoring in the bottom of the third, hitting a solo home run off Cobb to put the Yankees on the board. The Yankees then scored two more runs on a wild pitch, withAaron Judge and thenGiancarlo Stanton reaching home on separate pitches byJoey Cantillo. In the bottom of the fourth, Judge added another run, platingGleyber Torres with a sacrifice fly to extend the Yankees' lead to 4–0. In the top of the sixth,Brayan Rocchio hit a solo home run off Carlos Rodón to put the Guardians on the board and cut their deficit to 4–1. In the bottom of the seventh, Stanton hit a solo home run offErik Sabrowski to extend the Yankees' lead to 5–1. In the top of the eighth,Steven Kwan hit an RBI single to scoreAndrés Giménez, cutting the Guardians' deficit to 5–2.Luke Weaver closed out the win by striking outAustin Hedges swinging for the Yankees to take Game 1 and the 1–0 series lead.

With the victory, the Yankees won their first League Championship Series game since Game 5 of the2019 ALCS.^[10]

Game 2 featured starting pitchersGerrit Cole for the Yankees andTanner Bibee for the Guardians. The Yankees started the scoring for Game 2 in the bottom of the first whenAaron Judge reached first base on a fielding error byBrayan Rocchio, scoringGleyber Torres. In the bottom of the second,Alex Verdugo hit an RBI double, scoringAnthony Volpe. Then Judge hit a sacrifice fly, scoringAnthony Rizzo and increasing the Yankees' lead to 3–0. In the top of the fifth,Josh Naylor hit a sacrifice fly, scoringSteven Kwan as the Guardians cut the lead to 3–1. ThenWill Brennan grounded into a force out at first base as he allowedKyle Manzardo to score to cut the Yankees' lead to 3–2. In the bottom of the sixth, Rizzo hit an RBI double, scoring Volpe and giving the Yankees a 4–2 lead. In the bottom of the seventh, Judge hit his first home run of the postseason, a two-run shot offHunter Gaddis to extend the Yankees' lead to 6–2, scoring Torres. In the top of the ninth,José Ramírez hit a home run off closerLuke Weaver to cut the Yankees' lead to 6–3. Weaver then closed out the game for the Yankees to extend their series lead to 2–0 as the series shifted to Cleveland for Game 3.^[11]

Game 3 featured starting pitchersClarke Schmidt for the Yankees andMatthew Boyd for the Guardians. In the top of the second,Jose Trevino hit an RBI single, scoringAnthony Volpe to put the Yankees on the board for a 1–0 lead. In the bottom of the third,Kyle Manzardo hit a two-run home run off Schmidt to turn the game upside down as the Guardians took the lead at 2–1. That home run was also Manzardo's first career postseason home run. In the bottom of the sixth,Andrés Giménez hit an RBI single, scoringLane Thomas to extend the Guardians' lead to 3–1. With the Yankees top of the order coming up in the Eighth, the Guardians brought in closerEmmanuel Clase. However, Clase would surrender a game-tying blast to Judge, followed by another home run from Stanton, giving the Yankees the lead at 4–3. In the top of the ninth,Gleyber Torres hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Volpe to extend the Yankees' lead to 5–3.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees once again leaned on Weaver to close out the game. He gotJosh Naylor to ground into a double play, putting the Yankees one out away from closing out Game 3. The Yankees were one strike away from winning the game when the next batter,Lane Thomas, hit a double off the left field wall to keep Cleveland alive.Jhonkensy Noel then hit a clutch two-run home run off Weaver to tie the game at 5–5 and send the game into extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th,David Fry hit a two-out walk-off two-run home run offClay Holmes to end the game with a 7–5 victory for the Guardians. Fry's blast was the first postseason walk-off home run for Cleveland since2022 ALWC Game 2 against theTampa Bay Rays byOscar González.^[12]

Game 4 featured starting pitchersGavin Williams for the Guardians andLuis Gil for the Yankees. In the top of the first,Juan Soto hit a two-run home run off Williams to put the Yankees on the board with an early lead of 2–0. In the bottom of the first,José Ramírez hit a sacrifice fly, scoringSteven Kwan to cut the Yankees' lead at 2–1. In the top of the second,Austin Wells hit a solo home run off Williams to give the Yankees a 3–1 lead. In the bottom of the third,Josh Naylor hit an RBI single, scoring Kwan to cut the Yankees' lead at 3–2. In the top of the sixth,Giancarlo Stanton hit a three-run home run offCade Smith, scoring Soto andAaron Judge to give the Yankees a 6–2 lead. In the bottom of the seventh, Ramírez hit an RBI double, followed by a two-run RBI double by Naylor to narrow the Guardians' deficit to 6–5. In the bottom of the eighth,David Fry hit an RBI single to scoreBo Naylor and tie the game at 6–6. In the top of the ninth, the Yankees retook the lead 7–6 withAlex Verdugo reaching first base on a fielding error byBrayan Rocchio to scoreJon Berti.Gleyber Torres then hit an RBI single to scoreAnthony Volpe, further extending the Yankees' lead to 8–6.Tommy Kahnle closed out the game for the Yankees to take a 3–1 series lead, putting them one win away from their first World Series appearance since2009.^[13]

Game 5 featured starting pitchersTanner Bibee for the Guardians andCarlos Rodón for the Yankees. In the top of the first, Bibee escaped a bases-loaded jam without surrendering a run by gettingAnthony Rizzo to fly out. In the bottom of the second,Bo Naylor hit an RBI double, scoringJosh Naylor to put the Guardians on the board with a score of 1–0. In the bottom of the fifth,Steven Kwan hit an RBI single, scoringAndrés Giménez to extend the lead to 2–0. In the top of the sixth, Bibee got in a bit of trouble, with Torres and Soto reaching base to start the inning. However, Judge proceeded to ground into a double play and it looked like the Guardians were going to escape the inning. But after initially going down in the count 0-2,Giancarlo Stanton worked a full count before smashing a hanging slider into left center, chasing Bibee from the game and tying the game at 2–2. The game would then drag on. In the bottom of the ninth,Luke Weaver threw a 1–2–3 inning to send the game into extra innings for the second time in the series. Disaster would then strike for Cleveland in the top of the tenth, where Austin Wells drew a one-out walk and Verdugo proceeded to reach base when Rocchio mishandled a potential double-play ball, his third error of the series. With two outs,Juan Soto, after an intense at-bat, hit a three-run home run offHunter Gaddis, giving the Yankees a crushing 5-2 lead.^[14] Weaver then closed out the game in the bottom of the inning to clinch the Yankees' 41st pennant and send them to the World Series for the first time since2009.^[15][16] With the loss, the Guardians extended their championship drought to 76 seasons dating back to1948.

Yankees hitterGiancarlo Stanton hit four home runs, drove in seven runs, and scored five runs during the series, earning him theAL Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award.^[17]

2024ALCS (4–1):New York Yankees beatCleveland Guardians

• 2024 National League Championship Series

• Major League Baseball postseason schedule

• 2024 Major League Baseball season
• 2024 in Cleveland
• 2024 in sports in New York City
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• 2020s in the Bronx
• October 2024 sports events in the United States
• Baseball competitions in Cleveland
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• Cleveland Guardians postseason
• New York Yankees postseason
• American League Championship Series

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