Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Oakland Athletics

And just like that playoff baseball has returned to us all and returned to the Bronx, New York as the New York Yankees and Yankee Stadium play host to the Oakland Athletics. One game to decide a season. One game to decide the fate of both clubs. One game to decide it all. The Yankees will send Luis Severino to the mound with the pressure of protecting Yankee Stadium and continuing their season while the Athletics will send Liam Hendriks to the mound looking to play the spoiler. Neither team wants to go home and neither team wants their seasons to end here, but which team wants it just a little more? Let’s find out.

The game will be played at 8:00 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and can be seen on TBS.

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Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Oakland Athletics

The New York Yankees and the Oakland Athletics will kick off the American League Wild Card Playoff Round and the 2018 American League Postseason tonight in the Bronx. Get excited. Whether you believe this is a playoff game or not is irrelevant as the 2018 postseason officially kicks off tonight to everyone who makes those decisions and to everyone whose opinion matters, so leave your negative thoughts about the contest at the door. The second season has begun, let’s get to it.

In the game tonight the Yankees have named Luis Severino as their Wild Card Game starter while the Athletics have decided to counter the Yankees right-hander with Liam Hendriks.

Severino will start his second consecutive Wild Card Game at Yankee Stadium hoping for better results in this start than his last. Severino was knocked out in the first inning against the Minnesota Twins in the 2017 American League Wild Card Game after allowing three runs on two home runs in an eventual Yankees come-from-behind victory. None of that tonight. Nothing but zeroes, please and thanks. Severino, a 24-year old right-hander, was 19-8 this season with a 3.39 ERA and 220 strikeouts, although the righty was 14-2 at the All-Star Break before a second half collapse of sorts.

Hendriks has been a relief pitcher for the Athletics here in 2018, but he is no stranger to the life of a starting pitcher. Hendricks has seen his season ride a roller coaster after being designated for assignment and clearing waivers in June, only to come back and start the biggest game to date for the Athletics here in 2018. Hendricks, a 29-year old right-hander, was 0-1 with a 4.13 ERA in 25 appearances this season,

The game will be played at 8:00 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and can be seen on TBS.

Enjoy the game, win the game or go home… and I am not ready to go home just yet, and for the love of God… go Yankees!!

My Thoughts Heading Into the 2018 Postseason

Yes, the American League and National League Wild Card Games are postseason games. Major League Baseball says so and so does Baseball Reference. It doesn’t matter if you say so or think so, so keep that in mind before leaving the smart-ass comments in the comments section, on Twitter, and in my email. Thanks in advance.

The New York Yankees postseason push begins tomorrow night in the Bronx when the team plays host to the Oakland Athletics in a one-game playoff. The loser goes home and the winner travels to Fenway Park to take on the Boston Red Sox, the owners of the best record in the American League here in 2018. What are my thoughts heading into the postseason? I am confident. In fact, I am as confident as one can be who roots for a team that is about to have to play in a one-game do-or-die playoff game. Why?

The Yankees are built for a one-game playoff better than most, if not all, teams across Major League Baseball. The Yankees starters don’t have to give the team much length with such a deep, talented and now rested bullpen behind them. That’s why I never stressed much on whether it would be JA Happ, Masahiro Tanaka or Luis Severino starting in the game, because it didn’t matter. At the first sign of trouble the Yankees would/could bring in a battery of David Robertson, Chad Green, Dellin Betances, Zach Britton and Aroldis Chapman to potentially close out any game they need to. In a perfect world that is five or more shutout innings if every arm listed goes one inning. Green can go multiple innings, as can Robertson and Betances, while Britton and Chapman have as well in the past. That’s a whole lot of zeroes for the opposing team in my opinion.

The Yankees offense, albeit home run reliant sometimes, is explosive and it has been firing on all cylinders since the returns of Aaron Judge and Didi Gregorius. With the aforementioned bullpen and pitching situation across a one-game playoff the Yankees may only need one run to win, or they may go out there and score 15 runs for all we know. No lead for Oakland will be safe, especially in the Bronx, and it will be the Athletics, not the Yankees, who feel like they are further behind than they truly are with every run that the Bronx Bombers score.

The Yankees have been here before, much of the core from last season is here with a few new veterans thrown into the mix, while the Athletics have not been. The A’s are a great team, but there is a different intensity playing in August and September than there is in October, and Oakland has yet to experience that as a whole. One mistake can win or lose your season for you.

Assuming the Yankees get past the Athletics in the Wild Card round of the playoffs the team would travel to Boston to take on the Red Sox. Boston won the season series 10-9 here in 2018, but the Yankees recently took 2-of-3 from the Red Sox in Fenway Park over the final weekend of the season. Sure, the Red Sox had nothing left to play for except to maybe keep the Yankees from hosting a Wild Card game or from winning 100 games on the season, but New York held their own for much of the season regardless, both at home and in Boston. Truth be told I think the Yankees could beat the Red Sox in a seven-game series, but the five-game series benefits New York much more than it would the Red Sox. Having a reliable arm like JA Happ or Masahiro Tanaka potentially pitching twice in the series with Luis Severino and CC Sabathia pitching once each in the potential series I can’t say that I don’t feel confident about being able to win every single night in the series. Especially with that offense and especially with that bullpen. Speaking of bullpen’s, Boston’s bullpen sucks, so that can only help.

If the Yankees go further than the ALDS I will have much more to say, so I won’t get too far ahead of myself now just in case. I feel confident in this team as I have all season long, and I will remain confident in this team no matter where the playoffs and the schedule may take them. I love this team, and I don’t think any team in the American League wants to face the New York Yankees right now… and that is a great feeling as a fan.

CC Sabathia starring in The Curious Case of CC Sabathia

Coming this summer to a screen near you the latest movie “The Curious Case of CC Sabathia” starring CC Sabathia, Yankees GM Brian Cashman and the Yankees principal owner Hal Steinbrenner. On a serious note though what in the world is going on with CC Sabathia and what are the New York Yankees prepared to do about it? That’s the curious case if you ask me.

If the Yankees plan on competing in the American League East this season and if the team wants to go beyond the AL Wild Card Game and/or the American League Division Series you would have to believe they would need more out of the big left-hander or they will at the very least have to have a contingency plan just in case his struggles continue.

After the Yankees 5-3 loss in Cincinnati on Tuesday night the Yankees have seen CC go from one of the best pitchers in the game during his first three starts to one of the worst over the course of his last four starts. In that span Sabathia has pitched to a 9.58 ERA in 20.2 innings allowing 30 hits and 22 earned runs. In the now immortal words of Joe Girardi, that’s not what you want.

Sabathia is blaming the lack of control and sharpness of his cutter, especially to right-handed batters, and Joe Girardi agrees with him publicly. Where is Larry Rothschild in all this? It’s been four starts, which roughly equates to 20 days, since his last decent start. Come on now. Fix it or move him. Force him into retirement like you did Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira. Do what you have to do, just do something.

He’s making $25 million this season before hitting free agency so it’s basically a sunk cost for the Yankees. New York is paying him that $25 million regardless of whether he is pitching in the rotation, the bullpen or for another team so the team might as well do what’s best for the organization this year because this team has a true shot at being special. They may just be one impact starter away….