It was strange to see the Yankees lock up their division title near the end of the season and not play relevant baseball again for almost two weeks. The first-round bye is a new concept, and while I can’t say that I’m sorry that New York dodged the Wild Card round (goodness knows that they’ve dealt with it enough in the past decade), it will be interesting to see how the team regroups. For some players, the extra rest was beneficial in that it allowed them to get healthy again, so that’s a plus anyway.
The Yankees will have 26 players on their roster as they bid to take down the Cleveland Guardians in a rematch of the 2017 Division Series and 2020 Wild Card Series.