One change Aaron Boone refuses to make could come back to haunt the Yankees in the ALCS

The New York Yankees took the opener of the ALCS against the Cleveland Guardians, winning the game 5-2 behind home runs from Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton as well as six dominant innings from Carlos Rodon. That win puts New York just three wins away from their first World Series berth since 2009.

While winning is good, and the Yankees have done that thus far in October, that doesn't mean everything has gone perfectly. Their pitching has looked awesome, but their offense, with the exception of Giancarlo Stanton's heroics, has not. Despite the subpar showing with the bats, Aaron Boone has done nothing to shake up the lineup outside of making some changes at first base.

One change that feels obvious that Boone refuses to make is dropping Austin Wells out of the cleanup spot and hitting him lower in the order. Wells, a key contributor over the course of the regular season, primarily out of the cleanup spot, has just two hits in 20 postseason at-bats with eight strikeouts. To make matters worse, those two hits came in his first two games. He has gone hitless in his last 13 at-bats with six strikeouts.

If Boone continues to leave Wells in the No. 4 hole, the Yankees could be in trouble.

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Aaron Boone refusing to drop Austin Wells in order could cost the Yankees

Why Wells has remained in the cleanup spot is quite simple. The team has been winning, first and foremost, and he's a left-handed bat that they plug in between right-handed hitters like Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton to add some balance to their order. There are problems with this line of thinking, though.

First, while the team has won, Wells has not contributed. In fact, it's safe to say he has hurt them more than he has helped them this October. Second, Wells is a left-handed hitter, but how valuable is that when he can't seem to hit? Lineup balance is helpful when a hitter like Wells pummels right-handed pitching. He has not done that.

An argument could've been made that Boone should've even made this switch before the postseason. Wells was red-hot to begin the second half, but ended his season in a slump. He slashed .111/.217/.194 in September and ended his season going hitless in his last 15 at-bats. He had one hit in his last 29 at-bats. He was the coldest hitter in their order, yet he continued to hit cleanup. Make it make sense.

The logical switch to make would be to put Giancarlo Stanton, the hottest hitter in the order and proven October performer, where Wells is. Moving Aaron Judge down amidst his slump probably isn't realistic, but there isn't any excuse to hit Stanton any lower than fourth. Putting Stanton behind Judge might allow Judge to see better pitches, or, at the very least, give Stanton more chances with runners on base.

Even if the Yankees don't want to put Stanton behind Judge, for whatever reason, trying something like hitting Jazz Chisholm Jr. cleanup and bumping Wells down to the No. 6 spot might provide a spark. Chisholm has struggled this postseason thus far as well, but has at the very least hit a home run in October and finished his regular season with five hits in 12 at-bats.

Staying complacent never works. The Yankees have been able to win in spite of Wells so far, but if they continue to hit him cleanup just because they've been winning and for "lineup balance," they might run into trouble. Their margin for error against the Guardians is not massive, as we saw in what was a tight Game 1.