Yankees announce starting rotation for ALDS; C.C. Sabathia left off roster

With one day to go until the start of the ALDS, the Yankees have announced the three men that will start Games 1 through 3 versus the Minnesota Twins.

Although the Yankees have yet to finalize their 25-man roster for the ALDS versus the Twins, manager Aaron Boone did announce how his starting rotation will look for the first three games of the series.

Despite tweaking his left glute last week, James Paxton is healthy and ready to take the hill for Friday night’s Game 1. Six-year Yankee veteran Masahiro Tanaka will get the ball on Saturday in Game 2 — and Luis Severino gets the nod when the series shifts to Minnesota for Game 3.

Should the division series need to go any further, it’s likely the rotation would turn over before J.A. Happ — who was moved to the bullpen towards the end of the regular-season, sees a start.

As for C.C. Sabathia, his future, at least for the next 3-out-of-5 games has been set. The 3,000-strikeout, 250 game-winner will not be on the Yankees roster.

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While many would believe that it is Sabathia’s troublesome knees that would have kept him from helping the Yanks’ march towards World Series title No. 28, manager Aaron Boone told the media it is actually Sabathia’s left shoulder that caused him to miss the final series of the regular-season — thus rendering him incapable of participating in the first round of the playoffs.

"“He ended up getting a cortisone shot, was able to go and throw in a sim game and frankly threw the ball pretty well. But (his shoulder’s) just not quite where it needs to be to be in the kind of role we’re going to ask him to be in where he’s potentially (warming up in the bullpen) up on the spot and then maybe having to get up later in the game.”"

The plan is for Sabathia to continue working through this shoulder issue in hopes of returning to the club for a possible trip to the ALCS and beyond. In the meantime, should Boone decide to add an extra lefty out of the ‘pen, he can choose between Stephen Tarpley or Tyler Lyons.

New York also expects to have slugger Edwin Encarnacion on the playoff roster — which will likely result in either Mike Ford or Luke Voit joining Sabathia in the dugout.

As for Game 1, Paxton, the winner of 10 consecutive starts will square of against 25-year-old right-hander Jose Berrios. The two-time All-Star, Berrios, finished the year 14-8 with a 3.68 ERA, 1.223 WHIP and 195:51 K:BB ratio across 32 starts.