The Yankees are ready to unleash Gerrit Cole in the postseason

After a rough start to the season, Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is cookin’.

The moment every New York Yankees fan has been waiting for has finally arrived. The team has a surefire ace to start Game 1 or any elimination matchup of a postseason series. That man is Gerrit Cole, who is pitching with a vengeance right now.

After mowing down the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night in another Yankees’ victory, Cole now has four straight quality starts (though the one against Baltimore still wasn’t pretty in that 6-1 loss) and is in a groove like we’ve never seen him in pinstripes.

Over his last 27 innings, the right-hander has allowed three earned runs and 14 hits while striking out 34 batters. Out of his 12 starts this season, he’s thrown over 100 pitches in eight of them, still pumping 99 MPH in the seventh multiple times. Gerrit Cole is ready to be unleashed and next week can’t come soon enough.

We’ll admit, we were worried about Cole for a second earlier in the season, and we had every right to be. In the shortened 60-game campaign, he led the AL in home runs allowed with 12 through his first eight starts. He was tagged by the Rays and the Braves, and has since rebounded against the Blue Jays and Orioles over these four starts.

We’d love to see him display this dominance against the superior postseason lineups, and while that remains to be seen, he couldn’t be in a better position to do so. His stamina, confidence, control and emotion are all there.

Fans got treated to another form of Gerrit Cole expression tonight! It’s contagious!

His body language on the mound is that of a man on a mission. Again, we know that he’s doing this largely against inferior lineups, but the Jays are no slouches. Plus, this is what Cole is supposed to be doing. He has to embarrass and bury lesser lineups as the team’s ace, and now that he’s doing it with ease

Cole’s ERA was a 3.91 before his start on Sept. 5. It’s now a 2.84. Regardless who he’s facing, that kind of production and his unwavering determination to eliminate anything and everything in his path is paramount for this team heading into the postseason.

Grab your tickets for Sept. 29. The Cole Train will be leaving the station then.

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