Via Joel Sherman, the owners and MLBPA have essentially agreed to add a second wildcard team to each league, and having a one-game playoff determine which wildcard club advances. It would increase the importance of winning the division, but also give the owners the ability to make more money. Sherman says the two sides are still finalizing how they will create two 15-team leagues to help create a more balanced schedule, and they are also working on some draft stuff. Regardless, the addition of another wildcard team is pretty huge. The system could be in place as soon as next year.
Pitching plans after the rain out
Friday night’s rain out against the Red Sox threw a bit of a wrench into the Yankees pitching plans, but nothing major. Let’s recap what Joe Girardi said both before and after the postponement was announced…
- Freddy Garcia was supposed to start tonight, and he’ll simply be pushed back to Saturday. That means A.J. Burnett and Ivan Nova will start during Sunday’s doubleheader, but your guess on the order is as good as mine.
- Phil Hughes played catch today and will throw a bullpen session tomorrow. If all goes well, he and his inflamed back will start one of the final three games of the season in Tampa. I’m guessing it would be Tuesday, so they could see how he feels on Wednesday and Thursday before having to make a final decision about the ALDS roster.
- CC Sabathia will throw a simulated game before Sunday’s doubleheader, his final tune-up before Game One of the ALDS next Friday.
Game 157: No mercy (UPDATE: Rained out)
Already clinched the division? Big deal. Joe Girardi is running his A+ lineup out there tonight, showing no mercy against a team he has every reason to want out of the postseason. Unfortunately Mother Nature is much more kind, as the rain could force the Yankees skipper to change his lineup plans. Here’s the starting nine, which is subject to change…
Derek Jeter, SS
Curtis Granderson, CF
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Robinson Cano, 2B
Nick Swisher, RF
Andruw Jones, LF
Jesus Montero, DH
Russell Martin, C
Freddy Garcia, SP
It’s raining in New York, and has been all day. Supposed to rain all night too, though word out of the Bronx is that they’re going to try to play. So settle in for a long night, this might be another late one. Whenever the game does start, you can watch on YES locally or MLB Network nationally. Enjoy.
Update: The game has been postponed, and they’re going to play a doubleheader on Sunday. So yeah, go ahead and use this as your open thread for the night. Talk about whatever you like.
Derek Jeter on The Rosie O’Donnell Show, circa 1999
RAB’s own Hannah Ehrlich found this the other day and passed it along to me, and … just watch. Words really can’t describe it. The hamburger desk just pulls the whole thing together. Just amazing.
(h/t the shark doctor)
Weather no big deal for Yanks, huge for Boston
Are the Yankees at home? Then there is roughly a 50 percent chance that it will rain, if we’re to use this season as a guide. It’s coming down consistently hard as I write this, and the forecast shows it continuing into the evening. Even if the rain stops, it could take hours to get the field back into playable condition. In other words, there is a good chance that tonight’s game gets rained out. Normally that would create an unfavorable situation, but since the Yankees have already clinched the division they have little left to play for. Of course, their opponents have plenty at stake in the final six games, and a rainout today could mangle their plans.
If all went according to plan, the Red Sox would throw Jon Lester, Tim Wakefield, and Erik Bedard against the Yankees this weekend, and then have Josh Beckett, John Lackey, an then Lester again to finish out the season against Baltimore. That last start from Lester could be of great importance, since this season could very well go down to the final day. To experience a rainout tonight would create an unfavorable situation for the Sox.
A doubleheader tomorrow is tricky, since Fox has the game at 4:10 p.m. Since the Yankees will not play a single-admission doubleheader, especially against the Sox, maneuvering for one might be tough. They might have to play two on Sunday, though that doesn’t really matter. It still means postponing tonight’s game and then using two pitchers on either Saturday or Sunday. Where it impacts the Sox, and to a lesser extent the Yankees, is in the final series of the season.
If Lester starts tomorrow instead of tonight, he no longer lines up to pitch the final game of the season. The Red Sox would have none of their main five starters ready to pitch that day, meaning they’d have to use Andrew Miller or Kyle Weiland, or else start Lester on three days’ rest. If they need a win to clinch a playoff berth on that final day, it’s fairly certain that they’ll start Lester then. If they play the doubleheader Saturday they could then throw Wakefield in a potential Game 163, but if they play the doubleheader Sunday they’d again have no starter on normal rest. Erik Bedard would be the likely candidate to take the ball in that case. And then comes Game 1 of the ALDS on Friday, in which they’d either have to pitch Beckett on three days’ rest, or else go with Wakefield. It’s a mess any way you work it out.
The Yankees, on the other hand, would only be slightly inconvenienced with a rainout tonight. They can simply move Garcia back to Saturday and then go with Burnett and Nova in the Sunday doubleheader. Noesi could then go Monday, and then the final two games can go pretty much any way. Maybe they throw Colon, or maybe they give him a nice long rest before his potential playoff start. Maybe they get Hughes in for a game. Ideally, Garcia would have lined up to pitch Wednesday as a tune-up for a potential Game 3 start, but that’s not a huge deal.
This isn’t to say that the Yankees should root for a rainout tonight. Obviously it’s best to get in the games one at a time, line up Freddy for Wednesday, and generally finish the season with as few kinks as possible. But if the game were to get rained out, it wouldn’t be any big deal. The Sox might find themselves reeling, though, as their rotation currently lines up about as well as they could ask, considering the situation they’re in. One little rainout could change that. It could add yet another dimension to a wildly interesting Wild Card race.
The RAB Radio Show: September 23, 2011
We’re running a shorter than usual show today, because we’re all talked out about the 2011 Yankees. We’ve been doing this all season, and it’s been a blast. Next time we’re on the air, it’ll be time for Game 1 of the ALDS. So, without getting into any playoff previews:
- Lots of stuff about the Rays and Sox and their race to the AL Wild Card.
- A few things to look for in the final few days, including the Bartolo Colon situation.
- The quick road ahead before they get to the playoffs.
Podcast run time 30:59
Here’s how you can listen to podcast:
- Download the RAB Radio Show by right clicking on that link and choosing Save As.
- Listen in your browser by left clicking the above link or using the embedded player below.
- Subscribe in iTunes. If you want to rate us that would be great. If you leave a nice review I’ll buy you a beer at a meet-up.
Intro music: “Die Hard” courtesy of reader Alex Kresovich. Thanks to Tyler Wilkinson for the graphic.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (14.2MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Stitcher | RSS