Wild Card Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Minnesota Twins 10/3

Ladies and gentleman the playoffs are so close that I can almost taste it as Yankee Stadium is just about ready to play host to the New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins. The Yankees will send Luis Severino to the mound tonight who will be making his first postseason start ever, minor league or Major Leagues, while the Twins counter with Ervin Santana. The game will be played at 8:00 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on ESPN.

Attention Yankees Fans: T-minus one hour until playoff time and I give you one hour to prepare for this challenge. I want Yankee stadium to be as loud as it’s ever been. Ever. Louder than Derek Jeter’s final game. Louder than the 2015 AL Wild Card Game against the Houston Astros. Ever. Get it done. Challenge accepted.

Here are a few key stats for tonight’s game, hence why I put this game thread up an hour before the actual game starts. There’s a lot of information in this post, you have an hour to cram. Good luck and Go Yankees!!!!!

Twins:

2B Brian Dozier (.269, 34 HRs, 93 RBIs, .853 OPS)

1B Joe Mauer (.305, 7, 71, team-leading 36 doubles, .384 OBP)

SS Jorge Polanco (.256, 13, 74)

LF Eddie Rosario (.290, 27, 78)

DH Miguel Sano (.264, 28, 77)

Kennys Vargas (.253, 11, 41)

Robbie Grossman (.246, 9, 45, .361 OBP)

3B Eduardo Escobar (.254, 21, 73)

CF Byron Buxton (.253, 16, 51, 150 Ks)

RF Max Kepler (.243, 19, 69)

C Jason Castro (.242, 10, 47)

Twins: RH Ervin Santana (16-8, 3.28 ERA, 167 Ks in 211 1/3 IP)

RH Matt Belisle (2-2, 4.03 ERA, 9/14 saves, .218 opponent batting average)

LH Taylor Rogers (7-3, 3.07, 49 Ks in 55 2/3 IP)

RH Trevor Hildenberger (3-3, 3.21, 44 Ks in 42 IP)

RH Alan Busenitz (1-1, 1.99, 23 Ks in 31 2/3 IP)

RH Jose Berrios (14-8, 3.89, 25 starts, 139 Ks in 145 2/3 IP)

RH Tyler Duffey (2-3, 4.94, 67 Ks in 71 IP)

LH Ryan Pressly (2-3, 4.70, 61 Ks in 61 1/3 IP)

Yankees:

LF Brett Gardner (.264, 21, 63, 96 runs, 23 SBs)

RF Aaron Judge (.284, 52, 114)

C Gary Sanchez (.278, 33, 90)

SS Didi Gregorius (.287, 25, 87)

DH Chase Headley (.273, 12, 61)

Matt Holliday (.231, 19, 64)

2B Starlin Castro (.300, 16, 63)

CF Jacoby Ellsbury (.264, 7, 39)

Aaron Hicks (.266, 15, 52)

3B Todd Frazier (.213, 27, 76)

1B Greg Bird (.190, 9, 28)

Yankees: RH Luis Severino (14-8, 2.98, 230 Ks in 193 1/3 IP)

LH Aroldis Chapman (4-3, 3.22, 22/27 saves in 52 games, 69 Ks in 50 1/3 IP)

RH Dellin Betances (3-6, 2.87, 10/13 saves in 66 games, 100 Ks in 50 2/3 IP)

RH David Robertson (9-2, 1.48, 14/16 saves in 61 games)

RH Chad Green (5-0, 1.83, 103 Ks in 69 IP)

RH Tommy Kahnle (2-4, 2.59, 96 Ks in 62 2/3 IP)

RH Adam Warren (3-2, 2.35 in 44 games)

LH Chasen Shreve (4-1, 3.77 in 44 games)

RH Bryan Mitchell (1-1, 5.79 in 20 games)

LH Jaime Garcia (5-10, 4.41 in 27 starts)

The Yankees have beat the Twins in 12 straights games in the postseason.

The Yankees are 89-33 against the Twins since the start of the 2002 season including the postseason.

The last four trips to the postseason for the Twins (2003, 2004, 2009 and 2010 ALDS) have ended at the hands of the New York Yankees.

Ervin Santana is a career 6-10 with a 5.66 ERA in 20 career starts against the Yankees.

New York has the AL’s best home record in 2017 going 51-30 inside Yankee Stadium this season. The Twins were 44-37 on the road here in 2017.

Follow us on Twitter by following @GreedyStripes and enjoy the game. Need a win, get a playoff win and let’s get headed out to Cleveland to take on those Wahoo’s. Go Yankees!!!

Prediction: The Yankees #TAKE17 with a 9-2 victory. 

2017 Final Set of USA Today Power Rankings

The 2017 MLB regular season is over, 162 games down and depending on what team you root for your team either has 11 or 12 games left to win before they can call it a season. The USA Today doesn’t release power rankings for the postseason though so here is the final set of rankings from the publication for the 2017 season. Where did the Yankees finish and how do the standings directly correlate with the 2017 postseason? Keep reading.

The Cleveland Indians are probably the best team in Major League Baseball and the team finished at the top spot in the final set of standings which is a great sign for Andrew Miller and company. The Houston Astros took the second spot from the Los Angeles Dodgers who finished third overall while the Washington Nationals and the Boston Red Sox rounded out the Top 5.

The Chicago Cubs climbed to the sixth spot overall knocking the Arizona Diamondbacks to seventh while the New York Yankees finished 8^th to end the season securing the top Wild Card slot in the American League Playoffs. The 9^th best team in the league according to these rankings were the Colorado Rockies while the Minnesota Twins were 10^th overall and the final team in the American League playoffs this season.

The Milwaukee Brewers had the best record of any team that didn’t make the postseason and finished 11^th overall on the rankings followed by the St. Louis Cardinals, the Kansas City Royals, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Tampa Bay Rays who were 15^th.

The Texas Rangers broke ground on a new $1.1 billion stadium recently but the on-the-field product was only good enough to secure the 16^th spot on the rankings while the Seattle Mariners, the Baltimore Orioles, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Miami Marlins who were 20^th overall.

The bottom ten teams are not where you want to be but the future is usually bright for all of these teams as these organizations rebuild their farm systems and teams from within. In sequential order from 21-30 the rankings had the Oakland Athletics, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Atlanta Braves, the San Diego Padres, the Cincinnati Reds, the New York Mets, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Chicago White Sox, the San Francisco Giants and the Detroit Tigers. Detroit, you’re officially on the clock. 

Wild Card Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Minnesota Twins 10/3

Ladies and gentleman it is playoff time between the New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins. This is the American League Wild Card Playoff Game and it happens tonight in the Bronx inside Yankee Stadium. The last four times the Minnesota Twins have made the postseason they have faced off with the New York Yankees and the last four times their season has ended at the hands of the Bronx Bombers so here’s to an even five in a row here tonight in the Bronx. The Yankees will send the young right arm of Luis Severino to the mound tonight looking to make it five-straight playoff series victories for the Yankees while the Minnesota Twins will counter with their ace Ervin Santana. Two aces squaring off head-to-head is a fun thing in the regular season to watch but it’s an every night occurrence here in October. THIS IS PLAYOFF BASEBALL.

Severino will make his playoff debut tonight for the Yankees, and that’s for any level and not just at the MLB level. Severino finished the 2017 season strong with a 9-2 record and a 2.28 ERA after the All-Star Break including one start against the Minnesota Twins where the right-hander allowed three runs on five hits in just three innings of work. Severino should be and will have to be much better tonight in the Bronx.

Santana on the other hand will be making his ninth career postseason appearance at the Major League level and his third start in an AL Wild Card Game. Santana also finished the 2017 season strong with a 3.31 ERA in six September starts including one loss to the Yankees in late September.

The game will be played at 8:00 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on ESPN. The winner of tonight’s contest travels to Cleveland to take on the Cleveland Indians while the loser goes home to play golf for the remainder of the winter. I hate golf, but I love winning. It’s all part of being greedy so… need a win…. Get a playoff win. Go Yankees!

Ranking the 2017 Postseason Bullpens

The postseason begins today with the American League and National League Wild Card Rounds set between the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins representing the American League while the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies will represent the National League. These four teams are both looking for one thing and one thing only, a victory. Even if that victory means that your team would then have to face the team with the best record in your respective league, it’s the playoffs and anything can happen. A starter can be less than effective, the offense could be lulled to sleep or the bullpen could just be completely and utterly dominant in every sense of the word meaning that anything can happen in a short series. Speaking of the bullpen let’s take a minute this morning to rank the 10 bullpens entering this postseason to see which team potentially has the edge this October.

The Cleveland Indians are the best team in Major League Baseball according to many, including myself, so it would only be fitting that the team has the best bullpen as well, right? You’re waiting for me to say “wrong” but I am not going to because it is the Indians that have the best bullpen in the playoffs in my opinion with closer Cody Allen and former Yankees Nick Goody and Andrew Miller. Bryan Shaw is the Indians answer to Dellin Betances as he leads the team in appearances while not many teams, including the Yankees, can get the ball in the air to hit home runs off Dan Otero. With the short series in the ALDS looming the Indians could also see Danny Salazar and Mike Clevinger join the bullpen in relief, which is borderline unfair for opposing batters if you ask me.

Prepare your rotten tomatoes to be thrown because I am about to do something unthinkable and say that the Boston Red Sox have a better bullpen then the New York Yankees. Yeah, they do. Craig Kimbrel has been the best reliever in all of Major League Baseball this season in my opinion, yes better than Kenley Jansen, while Matt Barnes, Heath Hembree, Joe Kelly and some dude named David Price have been lights out in the bullpen for Boston. Add in the fact that a couple of the Red Sox starters could be entering the bullpen as well and Boston could have one of the deepest bullpens in the playoffs here in 2017.

Slightly behind the Red Sox are finally your New York Yankees and their bullpen. Trust me, it hurt to put the Bronx Bombers behind the Red Sox but I just had to do it. New York doesn’t know what they can expect out of Adam Warren after returning for the final weekend after missing time with a back issue while Tommy Kahnle is inconsistent at best right now for New York. Dellin Betances has been better but the big right-hander has always had a knack for working himself into trouble and I find it hard to rely on him like I have in years past. Don’t get me wrong, I love this bullpen and if everyone is healthy and pitching to the back of their baseball cards then this bullpen can match with anyone in the league, especially the Red Sox and even the Cleveland Indians, but right now not even me being a massive “homer” can rank this bullpen any higher than third out of ten teams, which isn’t bad at all.

Finally a National League team, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Or should I say the Los Angeles Kenley Jansen’s because it has been the Jansen show for LA out in the bullpen this season. Jansen recorded 41 saves here in 2017 including 12 saves that were for more than one inning, something you don’t see a whole lot of here in the game lately. Kenta Maeda is in the bullpen and Alex Wood may be not far behind him for the NLDS as the Dodgers combo of Pedro Baez and Ross Stripling looked shaky down the stretch in September.  

The Arizona Diamondbacks may have the second best bullpen in the National League, who saw that coming when the season started back in April of 2017? Some may argue against having the Diamondbacks this high but what Fernando Rodney did after a slow start to the season, 33 saves in 37 chances with a 2.38 ERA along with a .200 batting average against, did enough to convince me that the Diamondbacks were for real here in 2017. Remember, the Arizona pitching staff is amazing so the Diamondbacks are unlikely to have to rely on their bullpen for four-to-five innings a night like some teams. The plan for Torey Lovullo and company has to be to get seven innings out of their starter before handing the ball to Archie Bradley and then Rodney in the 9^th. Bradley pitched to a 1.73 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP this season as the setup man and as a multi-inning arm for the Diamondbacks here in 2017 and will likely be used in the same capacity during this year’s postseason.

The Washington Nationals were thought to have one of the worst bullpens in all of the NL East Division when the season started as the team was without a lockdown closer or much middle relief, but then came the July 31^st trade deadline. Before the deadline the Nationals acquired Sean Doolittle, Ryan Madson and Brandon Kintzler in separate trades which completely transformed their bullpen into a dominating machine. Doolittle is the team’s closer now and converted 21 saves after being acquired by Washington allowing Dusty Baker to use arms like Matt Albers, Sammy Solis and Oliver Perez in early inning situations when needed.

The Chicago Cubs bullpen is a bullpen that I would describe as “good, but not great.” Good will win you games and may even win you a short series with some offensive help behind you but I truly think in a seven-game series a “good, but not great” bullpen will get exposed. Wade Davis is still amazing but it is everyone behind Davis that is suspect, even an emerging Carl Edwards Jr. Justin Wilson is a big strikeout guy while Mike Montgomery and Brian Duensing should be effective against Washington’s left-handed hitters but I don’t think it will matter at the end of the day unfortunately.

The Colorado Rockies are here only because of Greg Holland. The Rockies middle relief has been shaky all season long even after the acquisitions of Pat Neshek and Jake McGee and it will only garner more question marks when rookie starters Antonio Senzatela and Jeff Hoffman join the fold. If the Rockies can just get the ball to Holland though the team has a chance to win every time so that has to be the plan out in Colorado.

The Houston Astros are only in this position because the Minnesota Twins traded away their closer Brandon Kintzler before the July 31^st trade deadline. The Astros probably have the shakiest bullpen among all the postseason-bound teams here in 2017 which is evident by their staff ERA of 4.29, 18^th best in MLB among all 30 bullpens. Ken Giles was great this season converting 34 of 38 save opportunities but it was the middle relief that is the reason why Giles didn’t get many more saves than that, well that and that high-powered offense.

Finally we have the Minnesota Twins whose bullpen defied the odds after their closer was traded in late July. Matt Belisle is the new closer and has done well all things considered while rookies Trevor Hildenberger and Alan Busenitz have both exceeded expectations in their first years in the bigs respectively. Taylor Rogers has done well as a left-handed specialist for Paul Molitor’s bullpen while the team has been able to patch their way to the postseason without Kintzler. The team’s bullpen can’t be relied upon in my opinion but hey, you can’t predict baseball. Let’s just hope you can tonight in the Bronx.

So it Seems… THE PLAYOFFS or NOT THE PLAYOFFS?

Good morning everyone and welcome to the 2017 MLB Postseason! I know we have this discussion every single year but I want to have it one more time just for fun. Is the Wild Card Round a playoff game or is it not a playoff game? Some fans say yes, other fans say no so what say you? Leave your thoughts below in the comments section or on Twitter by giving @GreedyStripes a tweet.

My personal feelings are that the Wild Card Round is in fact a playoff round. Sure it’s only one game but that’s just one of the things that separates MLB from other sports like the NFL or NBA. It doesn’t mean I necessarily agree with it that after 162 games your season should come down to a one-game playoff but that doesn’t change the fact that it is still a piece of the MLB playoff bracket.

Either way I have a date tonight with a beautiful blonde and the New York Yankees so I couldn’t be more excited regardless of whether this is a playoff game or not. Enjoy your day, enjoy the game and Go Yankees because we’re back in the playoffs!!

#TAKE17 #HEYYOU #ILOVEYOUKARI

This Day in New York Yankees History 10/3: Wild Card Winners

As we learned yesterday in this same series the New York Yankees and the Colorado Rockies became the first ever set of Wild Card winning teams when a fourth playoff team was added to the mix. On this day in 1995 the first American League and National League Division Series were played with the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, and the Atlanta Braves winning the first ever games.


Also on this day in 1947 in Game 4 of the World Series the Yankees pitcher Bill Bevens came within one out of pitching the first no-hitter in World Series history. Cookie Lavagetto of the Dodgers came up with two outs in the ninth to pinch hit for Eddie Stanky and hit a two out double. The Dodgers would miraculously come back to win the game 3-2.

"B" Team Bats Go Down Quietly To End Regular Season...

Credit:  MLB.com

Blue Jays 2, Yankees 1...

I can't say that I went into this game feeling very strongly about a win or loss.  In the grand scheme of things, the playoff format has been decided so it didn't really matter if the Yankees went 92-70 or finished 91-71 (which they did).  They still finished second in the American League East and hold home field advantage in the AL Wild Card game on Tuesday. Despite holding the Blue Jays to two hits, the Yankees were unable to muster any significant offense and lost by a run.

The Yankees lineup featured many backup players as key starters got the day off in advance of the AL Wild Card game. The only notable starters were Todd Frazier and Starlin Castro. Chase Headley got the start at first base, but he's probably the team's DH heading into the post-season. Greg Bird got into the game later.  

Credit:  Kathy Willens-AP

It was nice outing for Jordan Montgomery. He held the Blue Jays scoreless until the top of the 4th inning. Richard Urena worked a one-out walk.  Justin Smoak singled to right on a grounder that went just past the glove of Tyler Wade, with Urena moving to third. Jose Bautista, making perhaps his final start as a Blue Jay, lofted a high fly to center. Urena scored on the sacrifice as the throw from Aaron Hicks was off line. 

Credit:  Associated Press

I thought the Yankees had a chance to potentially pick up a run in the bottom of the 4th. Tyler Wade singled to left barely over the stretched glove of shortstop Richard Urena with one down. While Matt Holliday was batting, Wade appeared to steal second to move into scoring position. However, replay showed that the tag was applied before Wade reached the base as Urena's foot blocked the base to prevent Wade from touching the bag. Matt Holliday flied out to end the inning so the Yankees were still down by a run.

Credit:  Getty Images

Montgomery made it into the 6th inning, striking out Ryan Goins. But that was all for Monty's successful rookie campaign as Manager Joe Girardi took the ball and turned it over to Adam Warren. 5 1/3 innings for Montgomery. Two hits, a walk and a run.  He struck out three batters for the eventual no-decision. 

Credit:  Kathy Willens-AP

Adam Warren, making his first appearance since being activated off the disabled list, retired the two batters he faced to end the inning and show that he's ready to be a potential weapon for Tuesday night.  

Warren retired the only batter he faced in the top of the 7th (pop out by Justin Smoak) and was replaced by Domingo German.

With Blue Jays reliever Danny Barnes on the mound in the bottom of the 7th, Matt Holliday homered into the left field seats with one out, a solo shot. The game was tied at 1.   It looked like the Yankees might get more when Greg Bird followed with a walk. Miguel Andujar doubled to left center (ball dropped in front of a sliding Teoscar Hernandez), with Bird moving to third and there was still only one out. But the Yankees couldn't get either runner home as both Austin Romine and Clint Frazier grounded out to leave the runners stranded.

The Blue Jays scored the eventual winning run in the top of the 8th despite no hits. With Domingo German still pitching, Rob Refsnyder reached first base after striking out when Austin Romine couldn't catch a wild pitch from German (a low pitch that hit the ground behind the plate and bounced away).  Ezequiel Carrera walked, with Refsnyder advancing to second. Darwin Barney laid down a good sacrifice bunt with two strikes to push the runners to second and third. Ryan Goins took advantage of the runner at third with perhaps the shortest RBI I've seen this year, a slow dribbler that went no more than 10 feet. Refsnyder came home to score as the only play was to get the runner at first. The Blue Jays had  recaptured the lead, 2-1. German struck out Teoscar Hernandez to get out of the inning but the Jays had the run they would need to win the game.

From there, the Yankees couldn't do anything against Toronto relievers Ryan Tepera and Roberto Osuna with Greg Bird popping out to the shortstop Richard Urena for the final out to end the game. It would have been nice to close out the season with a win but as I stated when I started this blog post, it didn't really matter one way or the other. It's hard to take momentum from a game when most of the starters are sitting on the bench.  

The second-place Yankees (91-71) finish the season two games behind the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox (93-69) fell to the Houston Astros, 4-3, as those two teams prepare to resume their battle in Houston, Texas with Game 1 of the ALDS on Thursday. The Minnesota Twins, the Yankees opponent on Tuesday, beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-1, to finish the season at 85-77.  

It's been a long, run season and I hope that it continues beyond Tuesday. If not, I feel that Yankees Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner has been given the message that this team is ready to compete now and that he needs to ensure the team is given the best possible chance for success in 2018. 

GM Brian Cashman and Amateur Scouting Director Damon Oppenheimer presented Aaron Judge with an inscribed Waterford Crystal Gavel for his rookie record of 52 home runs.

Next Up:  American League Wild Card Game, Minnesota Twins versus New York Yankees, Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY...

Here it is...do or die. We've endured the rigor of 162 regular season games and the pay-off is a chance to advance to the American League Division Series. Win or lose, this has been a tremendous year for the Yankees. They've surprised the experts who didn't expect the Yankees to contend this quickly. The Minnesota Twins have had an excellent year as well, going from a team that lost 100 games in 2016 to a play-off contender.  

Here are the scheduled pitching match-ups. Suffice it to say that every pitcher on both teams will be ready for the call.  

Tuesday, October 3rd, 8:00 pm ET

Twins:  Ervin Santana (16-8, 3.28 ERA)

Yankees:  Luis Severino (14-6, 2.98 ERA)

This should be a great game! The winner advances to play the Indians for Game 1 of the ALDS in Cleveland on Thursday.  

Odds & Ends...

The Yankees announced on Sunday that "they will significantly expand the protective netting during the upcoming off-season at both Yankee Stadium and George M Steinbrenner Field". The action comes after the young girl was hit in the mouth on a foul ball by Todd Frazier on September 25th.  

The managerial firings should begin shortly. It's been announced after much speculation that Terry Collins will not be returning to the dugout for the New York Mets in 2018.  He'll move into a front office position. Ironically, neither of the AL Wild Card managers have a contract beyond this year. I guess Tuesday will have a say in their respective futures although you'd have to believe that both would be back after unexpectedly successful seasons.  

Have a great Monday! Enjoy the day off, and let's get ready to root, root for the home team on Tuesday night. Go Yankees!

This Day In New York Yankees History 10/2: Don Mattingly The Hit Man

Don Mattingly was the one bright spot for the New York Yankees in the 1980's and early 1990's and on this day in 1986 set a new team record for hits in a season with 232. Mattingly passed Earl Combs team record which was set in 1927 and would finish the season with a league leading 238 hits.


The reigning and defending World Series champion New York Yankees played the Boston Red Sox in a one game playoff on this day in 1978 in Fenway Park. We all know what happened, Bucky F'in Dent happened.


The Yankees are known for winning World Series championships but many fans forget that New York had plenty of years where things didn’t exactly go as planned. On this day in 1966 the Yankees would beat the Chicago White Sox 2-0 but would still finish a half game behind the Boston Red Sox for last place in the American League. New York finished with a 70-89 record and fell 26.5 games behind the Baltimore Orioles. This was the first Yankees club to finish in last place in the American League since 1912.


Speaking of winning World Series on this day in 1936 the Yankees would beat the Giants in Game 2 of the World Series by the score of 18-4. That was then and still is now the largest lopsided victory in the history of the Fall Classic.


Finally on this day in 1932 and on this day in Yankees World Series history the team won their 12th consecutive World Series game as they swept the Chicago Cubs. This would mark the third consecutive World Series sweep the Bombers would achieve.

Dancing Among The Legends...

Credit:  Getty Images

Yankees 2, Blue Jays 1...

It may not have resulted in the AL East championship, but CC Sabathia gave the Yankees what they needed to propel the team to the narrow victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon. Give credit to the Yankees for making the Boston Red Sox earn the division title and not handing it to them. This was a game for the ages, raising the names of Whitey Ford and Babe Ruth...

Sabathia locked into a pitching battle with Toronto's Marcus Stroman for the first few innings. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the 4th when Aaron Judge belted a monster blast over the left field seats (484 feet) for his 52nd home run of the year.  All Rise!

Credit:  Jim McIsaac-Getty Images

But the Yankees weren't finished. Didi Gregorius hit a one-out single to left, a ball that nearly grazed the top of the glove of Blue Jays shortstop Ryan Goins. While Starlin Castro was taking his hacks at Stroman, a wild pitch got away from catcher Russell Martin (a bouncer through his legs) allowing Didi to advance to second. With the count full, Castro singled to center, past a diving Ryan Goins who barely got a piece of his glove on the ball, to score Gregorius. The Yankees were up, 2-0.

The Blue Jays changed pitchers for the bottom of the 5th with reliever Aaron Loup replacing Stroman. Loup walked two of the first three batters he faced (the two Aarons) to put Hicks in scoring position, but the Blue Jays pulled Loup and inserted Carlos Ramirez who shut down Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorius on a strikeout and fly out, respectively.  

The top of the 6th brought a little drama and memories of the Jeffrey Maier incident years ago the then 12-year-old reached out to catch Derek Jeter's fly in Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS and Jeter was awarded a home run. With one out, Ryan Goins got a hold of a Sabathia pitch and sent it high to right. Momentarily, it appeared to be a home run but replayed showed a young fan reaching out to catch the ball. The play was reviewed but the call on the field (ground-rule double due to fan interference) was upheld. Goins took second and the fan was shown the exit. Sabathia struck out Teoscar Hernandez for the second out but with Josh Donaldson on deck, CC's day was done. Chad Green came into the game and got Donaldson to hit a fly to left for the final out. The shutout remained intact much to the delight of Sabathia. Sabathia finished with 5 2/3 innings pitched, and giving up only four hits with no runs or walks. He struck out six in what may have been his final Yankees regular season start.    

Credit:  Bill Kostroun-AP

Tommy Kahnle took over for Green in the top of the 8th and unfortunately gave his best impersonation of Dellin Betances (the bad version). The first batter he faced, Ezequiel Carrera, hit a soft dribbler on the third base side and beat the throw from Kahnle to first. Miguel Montero, pinch-hitting for Rob Refsnyder, drew a walk so the Blue Jays had the tying run on base. Kahnle was pulled and replaced with David Robertson. Ryan Goins struck out but D-Rob missed with a full count fastball to walk Teoscar Hernandez. The bases were loaded with only one out. Josh Donaldson hit a fly to left for the second out, with Carrera coming home to score on the sacrifice. Brett Gardner had to run to make the catch as the wind pulled it back, and his throw to the plate almost nailed Carrera but Gary Sanchez couldn't hold on to the ball. 

Credit:  Bill Kostroun-AP

Robertson came through big when he struck out Justin Smoak swinging to preserve the Yankee lead by the slim one-run margin.

Aroldis Chapman on the for the 9th inning and it was 1-2-3 game over with Starlin Castro running to his left to catch Darwin Barney's line drive for the final out. The Yankees win!

Credit:  Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The Yankees (91-70) saw their hopes for the AL East title dashed in the clubhouse when the Boston Red Sox completed their 6-3 victory over the Houston Astros. David Price got the Sox out of a bases-loaded jam in the 7th inning. Former Yankee Brian McCann did his part with a homer in the 9th inning but it wasn't enough. The Yankees will host the AL Wild Card Game against the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night. The winner will advance to play the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS. The Red Sox will continue their current series with the Houston Astros in their ALDS matchup, moving from Boston to Houston for Game 1.

Congratulations to CC Sabathia (14-5) for his successful season. I know that I had given up hope for the aging pitcher, like many fans, but he showed that he is capable of reinventing himself ala Andy Pettitte. The win was Sabathia's 237th of his career, passing the legendary Whitey Ford. 

Credit:  Reuters

The troublesome knee is still a concern but CC Sabathia earned his right to be part of the 2018 Yankees. Hopefully, the team and the player can come together for a mutually rewarding contract in the off-season.  

Credit:  Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Aaron Judge will most likely not play today so if that's the case, he finishes with a .284 batting average, 52 home runs and 114 RBI's. His homer was the 33rd of the year at home, breaking the franchise record set by none other than the immortal George Herman "Babe" Ruth in 1921. It's been an incredible season for the highly talented young slugger. First full season and he's rubbing shoulders with the greatest  of the greats in franchise history.

Odds & Ends...

Andrew Romine of the Detroit Tigers became the fifth player to play all nine positions in a Major League game. To play catcher, he used a 'hand me down' glove courtesy of his brother Austin. Romine pitched in the bottom of the 8th inning with the Tigers nursing a 3-2 lead over the Minnesota Twins. He retired the only batter he faced, Miguel Sano, on a ground out to third. He handled all of his defensive chances cleanly. A very nice accomplishment for Austin's older brother.  

Credit:  Jordan Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

There was a nice Twitter exchange between Aaron Judge and Marcus Stroman after yesterday's game.  

Stroman:  @TheJudge44 is creating history. He hits baseballs extremely far too. Lol looking forward to competing against him the rest of my career!

Judge:  Much respect @MStrooo6!! Love your fire and passion for this game!! Keep that chip on your shoulder!! 👊👊

Stroman:  Always my man. The future battles will be legendary. Good luck in the playoffs young king!

Personally, I would rather see these two become Yankee teammates...

Have a great Sunday! The final game of the regular season. Let's bring home a victory in preparation for Tuesday. Go Yankees!

This Day In New York Yankees History 10/1: Wild Card Weekend

On this day in 2014 it was announced that Derek Jeter, the recently retired Yankees legend and captain, would be opening a blogging format for athletes to speak directly to their fans. The Players Tribune was born, now on to baseball related news on this day in Yankees history.


Major League Baseball added an additional playoff team to each league before the 1995 season and named the winner the Wild Card winner. On this day in 1995 the New York Yankees became the first Wild Card team in the history of the American League while the Colorado Rockies became the first Wild Card winner for the National League.


Also on this day in 1961 on the final game of the season Roger Maris hits his 61st home run of the season passing Babe Ruth for the single season record. The Red Sox pitcher Tracy Stallard gave up the historic home run. Also on this day exactly two years later a baby was born named Mark McGwire. Ironic.


Also on this day in 1949 the Yankees held Joe DiMaggio Day at Yankee Stadium. DiMaggio took home two brand new cars, a boat, three hundred quarts of ice cream, and a cocker spaniel. On this day DiMaggio was quoted as saying “I like to thank the good Lord for making me a Yankee.”


Finally on this day in 1932 a mere 17 years before the Yankees honored the retiring Joe DiMaggio the Yankees welcome DiMaggio to the club as he made his professional debut with the San Francisco Seals. DiMaggio was 18 years old and was the team’s shortstop that season where he hit .340 with 169 RBI and 28 home runs.