Good news, bad news: Yankees' Game 3 lineup has reason for celebration and concern

Fans of the New York Yankees have had surprisingly few excuses to get angry with Aaron Boone during this postseason run. New York is 5-1 so far in October, and Boone has largely pushed all the right buttons when it comes to the rotation (getting a solid start from Clarke Schmidt in ALDS Game 3 against the Kansas City Royals) and the bullpen (0.77 ERA so far this postseason, with Luke Weaver and Clay Holmes thriving in their new roles).

Of course, these are still Yankees fans, so there's still one thing that's been sticking in the craws of talk radio callers over the last few days: Boone's insistence on keeping rookie catcher Austin Wells in the cleanup spot. Wells thrived hitting fourth for much of the regular season, but he's been abysmal in his first taste of the postseason (2-for-24 with 10 Ks in October), and while Boone loves to stagger his righties and lefties, that doesn't feel convincing enough to justify keeping Wells behind Juan Soto and Aaron Judge — especially with Giancarlo Stanton on another October heater.

Well, we have some good news and some bad news ahead of ALCS Game 3 against the Cleveland Guardians. The good news: Boone has finally relented with his lineup construction. The bad news: Just when one leak gets patched up, another one has sprung up.

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Yankees Game 3 lineup: Giancarlo Stanton up to cleanup, Anthony Rizzo out

We'll start with the good news. Wells has finally been benched in favor of fan favorite backup Jose Trevino, with Stanton moving up to the cleanup spot right behind Judge. (The fact that Cleveland is starting lefty Matthew Boyd likely made this an easier call.) Now for the bad news: Anthony Rizzo is out of the lineup for Game 3, with light-hitting utility man Jon Berti drawing another start at first base.

It's possible that Boone is just playing the platoon game. Given how well Rizzo has swung the bat so far in this series, however, and how punchless Berti is at the plate, it seems more likely that Rizzo's fractured fingers are still causing him a good deal of pain. Boone described his first baseman as "physically and emotionally drained" after pulling him in the late innings of Game 1, and Rizzo himself has alluded to the fact that while he can't make his injury any worse, he's going to be battling pain throughout this playoff run. For a Yankees team that has struggled for offense beyond its big four, that's worrisome news.