5 things the Yankees must do to beat the Twins in the ALDS

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BRONX, NY – AUGUST 14: Aroldis Chapman #54 of the New York Yankees pitches against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /

4. Dominate in the bullpen

There is a lot of understandable concern about the performance of the Yankees’ starting staff heading into this series. One great way to mitigate that weakness would be for Boone’s bullpen to come out and pitch up to their full potential. If that happens, Minnesota will really struggle to score runs late in games.

Aroldis Chapman gets all of the headlines as the team’s closer, but there are two Yankees in the bullpen who pitched to lower ERAs during the regular season. Chapman’s mark of 2.21 is really good, but both Zack Britton and Adam Ottavino were arguably more effective for Boone in 2019. Each had an ERA under 2.00 for the season.

The plan for the Yankees heading into every game in October will be to get the game to the bullpen with a lead as quickly as possible. Boone doesn’t need his starters to pitch into the eighth inning every night. If that happens, it’s a bonus. Otherwise, the Yankees will be more than happy to trot Britton, Ottavino and Tommy Kahnle out to the mound in late innings to neutralize the Twins.

One interesting thing to watch will be who Boone trusts if he’s required to go to the bullpen earlier than expected. Chad Green will probably get the first chance to secure that role, but after him the options start to look pretty grim. Avoiding putting a guy like Luis Cessa or Nestor Cortes out there in a high-pressure situation will be a big plus for Boone and the Yankees.

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