4 Yankees under most pressure in 2020 MLB playoffs

The Yankees are under a lot of pressure headed into the 2020 MLB playoffs. These four, in particular.

OK. Enough “rebuild” and enough “reload” for the New York Yankees.

If it weren’t already clear based on the way they’ve supplemented this roster over the past several offseasons, the Yankees are done being content with admitting a wave of Baby Bombers to the big league ranks. They’re also sick of entering the postseason with high expectations, mixed with the knowledge that there could be a potential bugaboo waiting in the wings, like the Astros or Red Sox, two favorites who put them in their place from 2017-2019.

Entering the 2020 season, before the whole world was flipped upside down, the Yankees were widely expected to be the American League favorites, and though they won’t be the league’s top seed, the baseball world has to admit that nobody wants to face this team in October.

If the team wants to come out on top this time around in a postseason unlike any other, they can no longer be their own worst enemy. These four Yankees are facing the lion’s share of the pressure this time around, all for very different reasons.

4. Gerrit Cole

Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is facing an entirely different level of expectations.

Yes, Gerrit Cole has been in the postseason before. But he hasn’t been the sole ace of a playoff-bound team since his early days with the otherwise-undermanned Pittsburgh Pirates. Last season, though he was likely the best arm in the Astros rotation, much of the pressure was on Justin Verlander.

This time around, he isn’t just Gerrit Cole, superior righty. He’s the $324 million man (well, pro-rated), and fair or not, he’s going to be judged accordingly.

You watched the rapid mood swings in the fan base as he struggled slightly on the road against Atlanta, or unraveled following an error in Baltimore. Even with plenty of time left on the clock in both 2020 and on his mega-deal, questions surrounded every pitch he threw until the doubleheader against Baltimore solidified things.

Was it fair and just? Absolutely not! But is it going to happen in October? Yeah, triply so, at the very least.

Until Cole delivers a ring, there’s going to be pressure squarely on his shoulders in every postseason series he leads off. Though it would be unreasonable to draw conclusions, good or bad, from a small sample size, his Yankee reputation is absolutely going to be dictated by these few weeks at the tail end of a grueling regular season. Over and over again.

3. Masahiro Tanaka

Masahiro Tanaka has long been the Yankees’ playoff ace. This time, a new contract is on the line.

No one has looked more unflappable for the Yankees in the postseason than Masahiro Tanaka over the past half-decade, but this season, the script has flipped a little bit.

We’re not saying he’s going to feel the added pressure, but there’s some personal incentive embedded in pitching particularly well during this playoff run. Tanaka’s role has also changed quite a bit.

In 2017, he was the stabilizing force behind the electric Luis Severino. In 2018, same situation, except with JA Happ (lol, yeah, oops) starting Game 1 of the DS after Severino took the Wild Card Game. Just last season, Tanaka and James Paxton alternated series openers.

This year, there’s an undisputed ace on the staff in Gerrit Cole, but Tanaka’s the last “sure thing,” preceding young Deivi Garcia, Happ himself, and a potential Jordan Montgomery start. If Tanaka falters, there isn’t much insurance behind him who you can absolutely count on in a pinch. Fans are assuming greatness, which is a Cole-like bummer. Either you’re near-perfect and it’s expected, or you scuffle a bit, and the whole plan is upended.

This time around, Tanaka’s livelihood depends on being a playoff ace, too. A free agent without the safety net of an option for the first time in his MLB career, a lot of teams will be watching Tanaka like a hawk, who also might be pitching to justify his return to the Yankees.

Let’s see how he handles a postseason that looks a little different, both in terms of the bubble and his personal security.

2. Aroldis Chapman

Most Yankees images of Aroldis Chapman in the playoffs have been a disappointment.

Yes, this ‘pen spot could’ve gone to Chad Green here, who’s battled the Overuse Monster in his past few postseasons (81.00 ERA against the Indians in 2017 after a game-saving Wild Card performance and a 9.64 mark against the Astros last season). But we feel like it’s more appropriate to single out the man who was on the mound when the most feel-good season of the past decade came clattering down.

When Jose Altuve’s home run cleared the Crawford Boxes in left field, the buzz around the Yanks disappeared immediately (pun very much intended), and it was Chapman’s wry smile that served as the final image of an incredible season, dedicated to overcoming the odds all the way down to DJ LeMahieu’s game-tying blast.

Instead, the biggest Yankee hit in a decade was rendered a footnote, and Chapman was deemed the responsible party by most of this fanbase. We’ve seen Chapman look electric in the postseason (he owned Cleveland in ’17), but more than a few times now he’s looked human, including the Carlos Correa walk-off in 2017, last year’s weirdness, and even the Overuse Olympics during the Cubs’ 2016 World Series run.

When you’re living in Mariano Rivera’s shadow, too, assessments only get more stringent. This postseason, and every postseason, will be huge for Chapman in terms of redefining his “exhausted smile” narrative. To overcome the pressure, he’ll need to present an emotion other than “complete disbelief” every time he’s hit hard, and figure out how to fix things on the fly.