Saturday Discussion: The Division Series!

October 3, 2026

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We asked our writers to share some thoughts on the upcoming Division Series with two questions:

How will the Yankees do against Tampa?

Who will be the best Yankee in the series?

Here are their replies:

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Tim Kabel - Sadly, I predict that the Yankees will lose to Tampa Bay in five games. The best Yankees in the series will be Ben Rice, Spencer Jones, and Cam Schlittler. 

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Ethan Semendinger - I am always Mr. Negative when asking how the Yankees will do. I don't often like the decisions this teams makes from the front office, to the manager, to the base coaches, to the players approach at the bat and on the field.

However, what I saw in those two games against the Red Sox was not like watching the prototypical Yankees over the past decade. While they hit a number of home runs, they were not "Home Run or Bust". Instead, they were 2-strike, 2-out, bat-to-ball merchants.

With Aaron Judge (the current Yankee's GOAT) and Giancarlo Stanton (as great as his postseason heroics have been) out of the line-up, the team has learned to rely on small-ball tactics (stealing bases, putting together strings of hits, taking the extra base, etc). It doesn't always work out (see: Ben Rice getting caught going for home in Game 2), but more often than not that aggressiveness pays off.

I would love to see Judge back. I want to watch more Stantonian bombs (so I can eat more Kit-Kats). But, more importantly, I want this team to keep their current approach. Leave both Judge and Stanton off the roster and win. Both deserve to get a ring for what they've done over the last 5+ years for this franchise, even if they aren't contributing on the field because of injuries this year.

Yankees in 4.

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Derek McAdam - I’m predicting that the Yankees will defeat the Rays in 4 games. Similarly to my Wild Card prediction, I will say that George Lombard Jr. will be the Yankee MVP this series. 

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Ethan Levine - As far as high stakes games go, this will be the toughest opponent either team will have faced all season.  If I'm Tampa, I'm thinking three uncomfortable thoughts: 

1) Through July we were 6-3 against the Yankees on the season.  By the end of September, we were 7-6.  This Yankees team, with the notable additions of George Lombard, Jr, Spencer Jones and Luis Garcia, Jr, is a different team than the one we played in the first half (Jones made his big league debut in May but didn't actually appear against Tampa until September).

2) We want to have this series wrapped up in 4 games.  In addition to starting Game 2, Cam Schlittler is scheduled to start Game 5 of this series on normal rest, thanks to all of the off days.  

3) What percentage of the seats at the Trop will be filled by Yankees fans?

Gerrit Cole had a 2.50 ERA in 18 innings against the Rays this season.  I predict he will be amped up for his first postseason start since Game 5 of the 2024 World Series.  He will have a shaky first inning but will then settle in.  The Yankees will steal Game 1 by a chin hair.  Cam will be his vintage self in Game 2, putting the Yankees up 2-0.  Fried will falter in Game 3,

but I can see a real scenario in which the Yankees lock up the series in 4, at the Stadium.

Who will be the best Yankee in the series?  Expect big things from Big Ben.  Ben Rice hit 7 home runs against the Rays this season, and look for his bat to remain impactful in this series.  

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Mike Whiteman - I think the Yanks will beat Tampa in four games. 

Once again, I think Cam Schlittler and Ben Rice will lead the way. 

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Paul Semendinger - The Yanks will win this series. They're going to the World Series. This is the year. The pitching will carry them.

The best Yankee across the whole series against the Rays?

Well, that will be.....

Ben Rice!

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Cary Greene - The Yankees offense is scoring runs in gobs right now and they're scoring in multitudes of ways, but the Rays entire philosophy is built around run suppression, so the Division Series shapes up as quintessential playoffs baseball and I'm afraid this one is a bit of a tossup. 

In a five-game series, I think the red-hot Rays can manage to win three of the five games if their front-line starters can go fairly deep into games. Drew Rasmussen, Nick Martinez, and Shane McClanahan are a formidable hydra and if all three pitches well, the Rays will be in very good shape. However, if the Yankees can steal a win in Tampa, the series would shift back to the Bronx and the Yankees deeper rotation may factor in favorably for the Yankees. 

The longer the series goes, the better I like the Yankees chances as it may come down to a battle of the bullpens and if that happens, the advantage tilts in favor of the Yankees.

Considering that the Red Sox had the second best bullpen in MLB this year and it didn't help them slow down the multidimensional attack of the Yankees, the Rays bullpen was markedly worse this year (19th) and so my hope is that if the Yankees can score early and manage to get leads to their own 13th ranked bullpen, it might be a recipe for the Yankees to succeed with. 

Another key to this series will be for the Yankees to leverage as many of their left-handed pitchers and batters as possible as the Rays mangle right-handed pitching and they struggle against left-handed pitching. Look for Ryan Weathers to be included on the Yankees roster and possibly, adding Tim Hill or Ryan Yarbrough might be helpful. 

Meanwhile, the Rays have a lot of quality right-handed pitchers and the Yankees are vulnerable to parades of right-handed pitchers. In Yankee stadium, a handedness war as I'm foreshadowing probably favors the Yankees if they can get the series back to New York tied 1-1. The Yankees are built to win in Yankee stadium this season and I think they have a good shot of closing out the series three games to one as a result. 

What the Yankees don't want is to come back to the Bronx down 0-2, because that means even if they do win the next two, they've got to go back to Tampa for what would be a decisive Game 5. Buckle up everyone, this is going to be a fun series! Yankees in four!

Also, Cam Schlittler will again be dominant!