Yankees announce burst of Wild Card rotation sanity during Sunday rainstorm

For much of the past week, it's felt as if the New York Yankees were genuinely hemming and hawing over whether to start Cam Schlittler or Max Fried in Game 1 vs. the Boston Red Sox. If you believe MLB insider Bob Nightengale - or some mid-week whispers - they were leaning Fried, with bullpen sessions for both pitchers to come on Sunday amid the downpour.

During a pre-Game 162 rain delay (this thing getting played, or what?), the Yankees decided to cut the tension with a knife.

Schlittler has been given the ball for the opener, followed by Fried and his career ERA of 1.93 against Boston in Game 2. Fried opened last October's Wild Card series and looked great doing it. He's looked healthy to end the season, and has allowed a single earned run against Boston in 11 2/3 innings this season (with an IL stint in between).

There may not have been a wrong answer, but there was definitely a weirder answer, and the Yankees avoided it on Sunday.

The Yankees will send Cam Schlittler out for Game 1 vs the Red Sox with immediate fuel

Perhaps the Yankees waited so long to announce the seemingly obvious - that their best pitcher and future Cy Young winner would earn the ball to open the series - in order to rage bait Schlittler as best they could behind closed doors. If this weekend was any indication, Red Sox fans have not taken the cue to stop making things personal to heart, trying again to itch his skin. This method has failed time and time again, and we hope Schlittler's got one more showing of smoke left for his hometown in the series opener.

The Yankees seemed intent on giving either Cole (with a day's extra rest) or Fried the ball in the opener, followed by Schlittler (with added rest himself). It was fair to wonder if they were worried about his recovery after piling up so many innings on his right arm (and losing his command a bit towards the end of the year). Thankfully, they made the decision that was both likely correct and hardest to criticize - and all the good things about Fried and a rested Cole will still be accurate when they start Games 2 and 3 (if a third is necessary).

The Yankees now have 48 hours to consider the rest of their complex roster decisions, from Giancarlo Stanton to Ryan McMahon to the bullpen. But their simplest call was sorted on Sunday, without things getting overly complex. Nice start.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow