About The Playoffs: The Calm Before The Storm

About The Playoffs: The Calm Before The Storm

By Tim Kabel

October 3, 2026

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The Yankees dismantled the Red Sox in a two-game sweep in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. They will now play the Tampa Bay Rays in a best of five Divisional Series beginning today. Gerrit Cole will match up against Drew Rasmussen this evening. Regardless of the outcome of the Divisional Series, one thing is clear, the Rays will be a significantly tougher opponent then the Red Sox were.  

I have some thoughts regarding the Wild Card series and the Divisional Series against the Rays.

·      As I am writing this, it is unclear if Aaron Judge will be on the Divisional Series roster. I would tend to think that he will not be. Obviously, he wants to be. I'm sure that Judge truly believes that he can play. Confidence is a great thing. Theodore Roosevelt said, “Believe you can, and you are halfway there.” I don't think that applied to calf injuries, however. I would be very surprised if Judge is on the roster. If he is, what role would he have? Because of who he is as a person, he would want to play rightfield. That might not be the best thing. He could re-injure himself or his fielding could be compromised by his leg injury. If he had to be the DH, that means either Ben Rice or Luis Garcia junior would have to sit. The Yankees already have a limited Giancarlo Stanton and a limited Trent Grisham on the roster. If Judge is on the roster, I could see a scenario in which Judge plays rightfield and Grisham plays centerfield while Spencer Jones is on the bench. If one of those speedy players on the Rays hits a ball in the gap, they could run for a week before the ball made it back to the infield. By the time you are reading this, we should know who is on the roster and who is not.

·      Regarding Giancarlo Stanton, I have a question. In the second game against the Red Sox, which was a blowout, why didn't Boone use Stanton as a pinch hitter late in the game? He hasn't played since April. He was on the roster because he was supposedly ready to hit. It would have made a lot of sense to get him at least one at-bat in an actual game against Major League pitching to see what he could do. The fact that Boone didn't do that, raises some concerns. This isn't just my opinion. During the broadcast, Suzyn Waldman said that Stanton should pinch hit. The concerns that I have are not just regarding Stanton. I do have to wonder how ready he is if they wouldn't even let him pinch hit in a blowout game to get his feet wet again. I would suspect that if Judge is on the roster for the Divisional Series, Stanton won't be. You don't need two guys encased in bubble wrap sitting on the bench. My larger concern is with Boone himself. Yes, I know the Yankees won 93 games.  I know the Yankees beat the Red Sox in a very convincing fashion in the Wild Card round. They decimated the Red Sox. However, Boone is still Boone. Boone still makes dubious decisions. You can make dubious decisions as a manager and get away with them under certain circumstances. I don't know if Boone will be able to do that against the Rays. First, Kevin Cash is a better manager than Aaron Boone. Second, the Rays are a better team than the Red Sox. The Rays are also a better team than the Yankees. I can easily see Boone doing something like he did against the Dodgers in the 2024 World Series when he brought Nestor Cortes into the game. In other words, one of those decisions that could cost the Yankees a game. Against the Rays it is more likely to cost the Yankees a game than it was against the Red Sox.

·      Regardless of what happens in the series against the Rays, it was very nice to see major contributions from a lot of the younger players on the Yankees, particularly the players who came up through the Yankees system. Cam Schlittler, Ben Rice, Anthony Volpe, George Lombard junior, Austin Wells, and even Will Warren contributed to the Yankees beating the Red Sox. This is a good sign for the Yankees in the present and in the future.

·      The schedule for the Divisional Series is much different than the Wild Card round. The Wild Card round would have been three games in a row with no days off. In this series, the Yankees play today, have Sunday off, play on Monday, have Tuesday off, play on Wednesday, play on Thursday, have Friday off, and play on Saturday. Now, the last two games are only if needed. However, the Yankees will have more days off in this series than Johnny Carson used to take.  That could be helpful because it could give their starting pitchers more rest and the availability to pitch more often.  Unfortunately, that also holds true for the Rays.

·      Gerrit Cole could be the key to this series for the Yankees. He has been up and down this season, after coming back from missing a year due to Tommy John surgery. In September, he became prone to giving up a lot of home runs. He can't afford to do that against the Rays, particularly if the Yankees are playing without Aaron Judge at 100%. The Yankees need Gerrit Cole to be at the top of this game and to avoid giving up a bushel of home runs. If they can somehow manage to beat Drew Rasmussen tonight, the Yankees will have a strong advantage. The worst scenario would be for Cole to get shelled early, forcing the Yankees to go to the bullpen and use up either Will Warren or Carlos Rodon. 

·      This will be a very interesting series.  I predict that the Rays will win it in five games.