Perspectives: Wild Card Sweep
by Paul Semendinger
October 2, 2026
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Well that was fun! That was a lot of fun!
I gave space to other writers yesterday. Here are my quick thoughts:
It was refreshing and a great deal of fun to watch the Yankees, the New York Yankees, the New York Yankees under Aaron Boone, play strong, sound, fundamental baseball. I hope this is a sign of good things to come.
If it took Aaron Boone 1,400 games or so to figure it out (that's a long long time) and he's finally (finally!) going to manage this well, I am okay with it. It was a (painfully) slow process to get here, but here we are. If Boone can win the Yankees a World Series and if the young kids are developing under his leadership and vision, then whatever it is he's doing is working. If he finally figured it out, it took too long, but I am glad he finally figured it out.
Andy noted this yesterday - Aaron Boone outmanaged Chad Tracy. By far. Boone ran circles around him.
In the Red Sox series, I saw the Red Sox playing a poor brand of baseball. I said, more than once, "They are playing the way the Yankees do when they frustrate me."
It is possible that the Yankees will finally win the World Series and that Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, and Gerrit Cole might not play a role in the championship.
Let's take a quick look at some of the starting homegrown players on the 2027 Yankees:
1b - Ben Rice - low cost
2b - Anthony Volpe - low cost
ss - George Lombard, Jr. - low cost
cf - Spencer Jones - low cost
c - Austin Wells - low cost
p - Cam Schlittler - low cost
Once baseball's labor nonsense is settled, and it will be, it has to be, the people involved have too much smarts to shut down the game. All we hear now is
posturing....
Once it is settled, along with the gazillion of dollars Apollo Capital is investing in the Yankees, the Yankees, even if they win the World Series, have no excuse for not acquiring the best players that they need that can help them keep this going.
I have been saying that the Yankees' starting pitching is good enough the take them all the way. What they did against the Red Sox was a great demonstration of that.
I can't decide on who I would rather have Start Game One of the series with Tampa, Carlos Rodon or Gerrit Cole. As long as Cam Schlitter pitches Game Two and Max Fried has Game Three, that's what matters. This isn't the time to start getting cute or playing silly games. Keep Schlittler and Fried on their regular rest as best as possible and use the others to fill in on the edges. I don't think right/lefty makes much of a difference with regard to Rodon and Cole and the pitching order around Schlittler and Fried.
The Yankees should win the Rays series and then have an easy path to the World Series. They have demonstrated that they can play a beautiful brand of baseball.
Then again, Kevin Cash is not Chad Tracy...
Let's Go Yankees!
it took a little time, but, by George, we've all seen it, and we've all acknowledged it.
Boone's no genius, but he runs a little bit deeper than the poor sap who is tasked with with daily mouthing the carefully crafted shallow and bland inanities sent out in the press room and sent out for public consumption.
there are some very competent coaches on Boone's staff and some competent staffers down on the farm.
Cashman has devised a sane strategy, or has seen the wisdom of a strategy proposed to him by staffers, and has slowly and methodically moved away from the Steingrabber model of buying top-market free agents and scanting the development of farm hands.
big names with big…
I agree with Ed that Rodon is the better choice for Game 1 (and Game 5, if necessary). Rays OPS vs. RHPs this year, .751; vs. LHPs, .678.
I further agree that we are not living through Peak Cole. In his last six starts (going back to August 27), he is 3-3, 34.1 IP, 4.98 ERA, and a whopping 10 HRs. To his credit, in three starts vs. TB this year, his ERA is only 2.50.
Rodon, by contrast, has been stellar since coming back from the IL on August 18: 7 GS, 3-1, 38 IP, 1.89 ERA, 4 HR. He's better than Cole right now, and given the Rays' problems with LHP, I want him to have the potenti…
Funny how playing the game the way it was designed to be played, results in winning games. For the most part of his time here, i dont trust cole in big spots as much as most others, you can say the same for Rodon. But, based on the last month or so, I'd give the ball to Rodon. My only negative takeaway from the wild card; jones has to make more contact.