Aaron Boone tweaks Yankees’ pitching staff to line up rotation for postseason

The Yankees bumped Gerrit Cole and Masahiro Tanaka in the rotation.

It appears the New York Yankees have a plan for their postseason rotation after an issue popped up last week that would align JA Happ and Jordan Montgomery as the starters for Games 1 and 2 of the Wild Card series, which begins on Sept. 29.

Gerrit Cole, who was originally slated to pitch on Monday, got bumped to Tuesday in favor of Michael King, and Masahiro Tanaka will follow on Wednesday. That’ll give Happ a start on Thursday and Montgomery one on Friday.

But there still seems to be an issue, right?

This still means Cole will have a full week of rest before the first postseason game, but as we previously discussed, with the right-hander now scheduled to also pitch on Sunday, the Yankees can use their final game of the season as a “throw day” for their ace and have him pitch 1-2 innings, as he normally would in workouts. Then he’ll be a full go for Sept. 29.

That feels like it’ll be the plan, especially with the extra day of rest. Another observation here that’s perhaps more important, though, is that this lines up Tanaka for his beloved six days of rest (we all know how much better he is under that routine, especially as he continues to get more and more innings under his belt).

And keep your eyes peeled, because however the rotation shakes out later in the week will provide clarity for who will start a hypothetical Game 3 in the Wild Card series. Assuming it goes Cole, Tanaka, Happ, Montgomery, Garcia, Cole to finish the week, with Cole’s last start being a “throw day,” it will be Cole (Sept. 29), Tanaka (Sept. 30) and anyone on Sept. 30. Garcia will be on normal rest and Happ/Montgomery will be on extra rest.

Right now, however, according to ESPN’s schedule for the Yankees, Montgomery is not starting this week, Garcia will pitch on Friday, and Cole is on for Sunday, so we really have no definitive answers.

But we have a rough estimate, and that’s good enough. It seems the Yankees have successfully made this work without having to make overarching changes.

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