MINNEAPOLIS — When the American League wild-card playoff is held in three weeks, almost certainly in Oakland or at Yankee Stadium, Aaron Boone may have a decision on his plate that the rookie manager never expected to have to make.
Who will be his starting pitcher?
He could turn to the reliable J.A. Happ, or the spirited Masahiro Tanaka.
But the pitcher whose hands Boone would most dearly love to place his team’s fate in is Luis Severino. That was clear in Boone’s plaintive voice on Wednesday before he sent Severino to the mound against the Minnesota Twins.