About the Postseason: Get Ready to Rumble

About the Postseason: Get Ready to Rumble

By Tim Kabel

October 4, 2024

*** 

The Yankees start their quest for their 28th World Series victory tomorrow night in the Bronx. They are facing the Kansas City Royals, an old playoff adversary from the late 1970s and 1980. They have not met in the postseason since then and the Royals have had many years of mediocrity. However, the Royals won the World Series more recently than the Yankees did, having won in 2015. The Yankees have not won the World Series since 2009. But this is just the ALDS. There is a long way to go to make it to the 2024 World Series. 

The Yankees earned a bye in the first round of the playoffs by having the best record in the American League. That should be an advantage. Let's see if it really becomes one. They will be playing the Royals in a best of five series. The first two games are at Yankee Stadium, another advantage of having the best record in the American League. I would argue that there is more pressure on the Yankees than there is on the Royals. The Yankees are expected to contend for the World Series every year. This year in particular, the players, manager, coaching staff, and front office all stated that last year was unsatisfactory and the goal this season was to win everything. In order to win everything, you have to win the first round. Not many people predicted the Royals making a postseason run. Yet here they are.

The Yankees should be able to beat the Royals. It all starts with Game One. The Yankees will send Gerrit Cole against the Royals’ Michael Wacha. Cole is an ace. Wacha is not. I would say that although game one is not an absolute must win for the Yankees, it's pretty close to that. Think about it. It is a five-game series. If the Yankees lost the first game, they would then have to win three out of four games against the Royals. The Royals would only have to win two out of four games against the Yankees. Of course, it is entirely possible the Yankees could lose the first game and then win the next three. It would just be much more difficult. The whole purpose to having the best record and the bye in the first round was to set up the pitching rotation to take advantage of the extra time off.

The most striking feature about this Yankees’ team is its inconsistency and unpredictable nature. We could all imagine them rolling over the Royals and advancing to the ALCS with absolutely no trouble. We would not be surprised to hear that they swept the Royals with Aaron Judge hitting four home runs in three games and Juan Soto batting .400 and driving in seven runs in the three games. No one would be shocked if Gerrit Cole pitched eight innings of shutout baseball on Saturday night, and for Carlos Rodon and the Game 3 starter, who has not been announced yet, to pitch almost as well.

However, it would also be in the realm of possibility for the Yankees to get shut down by Michael Wacha and the Royals’ bullpen. Would anybody be shocked if they read the paper or this site on Sunday morning and discovered that Gleyber Torres made a big error, allowing the Royals to blow the game wide open Saturday night? Or that Aaron Boone brought Clay Holmes into a tight situation in the sixth inning, and he coughed up a lead? As the playoffs open, we do not know which version of the 2024 Yankees we will see. We could see more than one version just in this series. 

I have written many times that I don't believe the Yankees will win a World Series as long as Aaron Boone is the manager of the team. I have long advocated the practice of “Boone -proofing”, which is taking precautions with the team to survive any of the various blunders, poor decisions, or lack of decisions made by Boone. The postseason requires an intensified level of Boone-proofing. We saw in 2022 that Bone’s decisions can easily contribute to an early exit in the playoffs. That could be particularly true this year when there seems to be a lot of parity among the teams.

First and foremost, Boone-proofing this postseason will need to be applied to the construction of the roster. The official roster has not yet been announced. Boone will not construct the roster alone but, he has a say in it. Under no circumstances, should he be allowed to convince Brian Cashman and the others to put either DJ LeMahieu or Anthony Rizzo on the ALDS roster. It would be a waste of spots to put either of them on the roster. Furthermore, if they were there, we all know that Boone would play them over others. For example, if DJ LeMahieu were to declare himself fit to play and was on the roster, he would start at first base over both Ben Rice and Oswaldo Cabrera despite not playing for over a month and being dreadful leading up to that time. Once the roster is constructed, the issue will then become who plays? Boone had discussed the idea of playing Trent Grisham at first base. That should never happen. In fact, Grisham should only be on the field if he is being used as a defensive replacement or in the case of a blowout. Jose Trevino should not start a game in this series.

The next issue that will require intense Boone-proofing is the use of the bullpen. Due to Clay Holmes’ collapse in the second half of the season, the roles in the bullpen have become more fluid and flexible. Ostensibly, Luke Weaver is the closer at this point but, he has minimal experience in that role. My concern is the fact that because there are fewer clearly defined roles in the bullpen, that will give Boone carte blanche to experiment and make changes mid-game more frequently than he would in the past. Lately, the bullpen has been doing well but, that could go South in a hurry.

As the playoffs are about to open tomorrow night for the Yankees, I am cautiously optimistic. It is imperative that they get off to a good start. If they open up sluggish and stale, the Royals could easily take advantage of that and gain confidence. Then, it could be a quick exit for the Yankees. They need to win the game that Gerrit Cole is starting. Let's cross our fingers and hope that the best version of the 2024 Yankees takes the field Saturday night.

One more thing, don’t let Goose Gossage pitch to George Brett.