The lineup Aaron Boone authored Sunday night reflected where his Yankees were in the standings and schedule.
They began this game with six straight wins and a commanding AL East lead. With a three-game series awaiting in Toronto, Aaron Judge led off — but as the designated hitter — while Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Giancarlo Stanton sat.
Judge doubled, walked and flew out to center before heavy rains set in. If Judge were not sitting on 60 homers — one shy of Roger Maris’ AL record — on a nationally televised contest, the game would have been called a lot quicker than the 90ish minutes that was used to hope and pray that it could resume. The Yankees won 2-0 for a seventh straight victory and completed a 6-0 homestand. They need one win in three games in Toronto to clinch the AL East.
That allows them to begin to experiment and examine to determine how they will lineup roster-wise and in games for the postseason. It felt as if that began Sunday with Oswaldo Cabrera hitting cleanup, Aaron Hicks playing left, Marwin Gonzalez at third and Oswald Peraza at short.
Brian Cashman, though, insisted that this was not the beginning of tryouts for how to construct the positional part of a postseason roster.
“We haven’t gotten that deep in the weeds on that,” the Yankees general manager said.
But breadcrumbs are being dropped. For example, we may not know how many homers Judge will finish with in the 2022 regular season. But he seems set to be the leadoff-hitting right fielder in the playoffs. Judge batted first for the 14th straight game Sunday. Harrison Bader started in center for the sixth time in seven games since returning from plantar fasciitis in his right foot.
Bader told me that he is gaining more and more confidence in what he could do on the foot with each game. His performance is reflecting why the Yankees were willing to sacrifice Jordan Montgomery to land Bader at the deadline. He has been good at the plate and on the bases, but the Yankees particularly valued what he could bring to an already strong defense and Bader has done that while moving Judge back to right where he is elite.
If you hadn’t noticed, after yielding one run in 25 ²/₃ innings in his first four Cardinal starts, Montgomery has a 5.34 ERA in the subsequent six with an .871 OPS against.
Bader is playing and by winning the division, the Yankees might improve their chances of getting others back. For a division winner will have five days off from Oct. 6-10 before beginning a Division Series on Oct. 11. But in the AL there are other off-days on both Oct. 12 and Oct. 14.
Thus, the Yankees get more time to heal Andrew Benintendi, Matt Carpenter and DJ LeMahieu before beginning the playoffs — though Cashman surprisingly threw open the possibility that Carpenter (fractured foot) could return for the season-closing four-game series against the Rangers; a surprise because Carpenter still arrives to the clubhouse in a walking boot and has a noticeable limp without the boot.
The extra off-days also could motivate the Yankees to go with 12 (rather than 13) pitchers and 14 position players. That could increase the likelihood of carrying a bat only off the bench such as Carpenter and/or a speed player such as Tim Locastro, though I heard Tyler Wade (who has not yet played for the Yankees this year) also could be in play.
LeMahieu (toe) may not return from the IL before the Yankees complete the series on the harsh turf of the Rogers Centre. He knows this is going to be about pain tolerance. With it being revealed Sunday that Don Mattingly will not return as Marlins manager next season, he was on my mind and I mentioned to LeMahieu that in 1995, with the Yankees in a playoff chase late, Mattingly decided to just let loose and if his chronic back didn’t hold up, so be it. LeMahieu agreed he would soon be in the same place — just going for it and whatever is, is.
As for Benintendi (hamate), he likely would get his left field job back if he can return. Yet, Cabrera is making a play at being a version of Ricky Ledee/Shane Spencer in 1998 — a rookie who came along to play left on a stacked team.
With his double Sunday, Cabrera is hitting .311 in the last 13 games with four homers, all from the left side. The switch-hitting Cabrera’s OPS from the left side since Sept. 10 was 1.090 going into Sunday, only Houston’s Yordan Alvarez and St. Louis’ Lars Nootbaar were better.
The burgeoning performance plus versatility has sealed a postseason roster spot for Cabrera whether he starts in left or not. That would mean 10 secure roster spots: Bader, Cabrera, Donaldson, Judge, Kiner-Falefa, Stanton, Gleyber Torres, Kyle Higashioka, Anthony Rizzo and Jose Trevino. Benintendi, Carpenter and LeMahieu are in play to bring it to 13. If there is a 14th, is it Locastro? Hicks? Marwin Gonzalez? Peraza? Wade?
Once they clinch the AL East, the Yankees will have about a weeks’ worth of games to experiment plus they can have simulated games in that five-day gulf until the division series. There is still a lot for the Yankees to determine — beyond how many homers Judge hits.
