Yankees Manager Aaron Boone Opens Up on Postseason Rotation Plans

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The Yankees are moving up starter Carlos Rodon to line him up for Game 2 of the AL wild card series next week.

The New York Yankees are in the postseason, and Aaron Boone is already lining up his starting pitchers for their potential wild-card-round series against the Boston Red Sox.

The Yankees manager opened up about his plans to set up his starting pitching, even as the Yankees try to chase down the Toronto Blue Jays for the American League East crown.

The Yankees clinched their 60th postseason appearance in franchise history with a 3-2, walk-off win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night. They lead the first AL wild card, ahead of Boston, by three games with five left to play — and are in line to host a best-of-three series that would start Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.

But the Yankees are not yet dead in the race for the AL East crown, and a bye to the AL Division Series. They trail the Blue Jays by one game — really it’s two since Toronto has the tiebreaker — after the Jays lost to the Red Sox 4-1 at Rogers Centre on Tuesday.

Fried, Rodon To Start Games 1 and 2 for Yankees

Unsurprisingly, the Yankees have lined up their top-two starters, Max Fried and Carlos Rodon, to throw Games 1 and 2 of the wild card series.

Boone used a well-timed off day Monday to line up his starters — skipping No. 5 starter Will Warren and moving Rodon up a day to pitch the finale against Chicago — so the co-aces could start the two guaranteed games.

Fried (18-5, 2.92 ERA) leads the American League in wins and has already set a career high for wins in a single season. Rodon is tied for second in the AL in wins (17) and also set a career high in victories while looking like the pitcher the Yankees were getting when they signed him to a six-year, $162 million contract before the 2023 season.

The Red Sox lead the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians by one game for the third wild card spot. Still, assuming the Yankees square off against Boston, they will face their rival’s aces as well, since Garrett Crochet is lined up to pitch against Fried in Game 1 and No. 2 starter — and Yankees nemesis — Brayan Bello is in line to go against Rodon in Game 3.

Boone: ‘We’ll See Where We Are’ For Game 3

The Yankees manager did his weekly appearance on Jomboy Media’s “Talkin’ Yanks” podcast, and he played coy about the Yankees’ rotation decisions beyond the two guaranteed wild-card games.

“We’ll see where we are when we get there,” Boone said.

Since the wild-card round was expanded to a best-of-3 full time in 2022, only two of the 12 series have even reached a third game — and both were in the National League, involving the New York Mets.

The likeliest candidate to start Game 3 would be reigning AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil, though he is also in line to start their final game of the regular season Sunday against the Baltimore Orioles. Boone admitted that whoever starts Sunday would not be able to pitch in the wild card series.

Boone effectively confirmed Gil along with rookies Cam Schlittler and Will Warren would be on the team’s postseason roster — and that at least one would go to the bullpen. But he could not announce any decisions yet.

“We gotta see,” Boone said. “Is it wild-card round? Do we happen to get the bye? Those things will unfold this week. But I would expect somebody helping us out of the ‘pen in some way.”

Pat Pickens is an experienced sports writer and media personality who has written for outlets like NHL.com, the Associated Press, the New York Times and USA Today. He covers the NFL, NBA, NHL and NBA as a breaking news contributor at Heavy. More about Pat Pickens