The Yankees can close out their Wild Card Series with Cleveland straight away, with Masahiro Tanaka on the mound to start Game Two. New York announced their lineup supporting Tanaka in this potential close out game.
Last night’s starting nine brought some interesting quirks. Kyle Higashioka, essentially Gerrit Cole’s personal catcher at this point, got the start, and Aaron Boone went with lefty-swinging Brett Gardner against the right-handed Shane Bieber. Gary Sánchez will reenter the lineup to catch Tanaka and bat ninth, while Gardner remains in left field against another righty in Carlos Carrasco.