The Yankees and Rays are back in the postseason, and this time the setup looks a lot less surreal than their last October meeting. Their first playoff series came in San Diego with cardboard cutouts in the stands. This one starts Saturday at The Trop, which is somehow the first postseason game the Yankees have ever played there.
The schedule brings a strange twist right away. There’s an off day between Games 1 and 2 without any change in venue, a quirk that could let both clubs line up their Game 1 starters again on full rest for Game 4 if they want to go that route.
New York is going with Gerrit Cole in the opener.
That choice doesn’t exactly follow the numbers on paper. The Rays have handled right-handed pitching well this season, posting the fourth-best wRC+ and fifth-best OPS in baseball against righties.
Against lefties, though, they drop all the way to 26th and 25th in those same categories. Even so, the Yankees are clearly leaning into the simple version of the decision: Cole is their guy, and he gets the ball.
And it’s not hard to see why they’re comfortable with that call. Cole has the pedigree, and after two rough outings in San Diego and against the Mets, he finished the year strongly, including a solid start against the Rays at the Stadium. His regular-season ERA sits at 3.20, and his postseason ERA is 2.77.
That leaves the Yankees with another good problem: how to handle Carlos Rodón. The numbers suggested Rodón should have been the choice, and his recent track record would have supported that too.
But in a short series, the Yankees are trusting the arm they trust most. Rodón still figures to matter, whether that’s in Game 3 or Game 4 back in New York.
If Cole’s first start goes well, he could technically come back on regular rest and face Drew Rasmussen again in Game 4. That’s the kind of rotation flexibility the Yankees are working with here - not a scramble, but a luxury.
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