5 questions the Yankees must answer before the Playoffs

1. How deep will the postseason rotation go?

There are three starters who are locks to be involved in the postseason rotation if the Yankees advance far enough to need one. The aforementioned Severino, J.A. Happ and Masahiro Tanaka have all done enough this season to earn Boone’s trust.

You’ll notice, we did not mention CC Sabathia or Lance Lynn in that list. Let’s start with Lynn, he’s not going to get a meaningful playoff start. He gave the club a nice lift right after he arrived from Minnesota, but he’s been hit hard lately. He’ll likely get a chance to be in the postseason bullpen, but even that isn’t an absolute certainty.

The toughest call for Boone is whether or not he should trust Sabathia with a start. He’s got a ton of postseason success. His reputation as a big game pitcher may not be enough to overcome his struggles down the stretch though. It’s possible he’s simply lost his best stuff. If that’s the case, the Yankees can’t afford to hand him the ball in a crucial Playoff game.

On the other hand, trying to make a deep postseason run with only three starters is a very risky strategy. Boone might decide that the risk of alienating Sabathia and going with a shortened rotation is simply is too great a gamble to take.

You can be certain that Boone is hoping Sabathia will make a good start or two down the stretch. That would make the task of setting his playoff rotation much easier.