The most important matchup in Tuesday’s American League Division Series Game 3 is going to happen in the top of the first inning, just three batters into the game, when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. steps into the box against Yankees starter Carlos Rodón . That’s not because Guerrero has been pounding the Yankees for the first two games of the series, or because he’s been pounding them for years, or because of his now infamous comments about how he’d never play for the Yankees -- “no, not even dead” -- in 2023, or even because, with the Yankees facing elimination, Rodón simply has to get the team off to a good start .

It’s because Rodón has faced Guerrero 21 times in their respective careers, and exactly zero of those times have ended in a strikeout. Guerrero has 10 hits, four walks and

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