The Yankees will begin the playoffs with two of their best bats on the bench.
Their lineup for Game 1 of the wild-card series against the Red Sox on Tuesday did not include either Ben Rice or Jazz Chisholm Jr., as the Yankees stacked their right-handed hitters to face ace lefty Garrett Crochet.
Manager Aaron Boone said on Monday that Rice would be out of the lineup, with Austin Wells catching Max Fried and the right-handed hitting Paul Goldschmidt at first base.
But Chisholm, on the heels of a 30-30 season, will also be coming off the bench as Amed Rosario (6-for-9 in his career against Crochet) starts at second base and José Caballero replacing Ryan McMahon at third base.
Chisholm did get hit on the left forearm Saturday with a 97 mph sinker, but Boone expected him to be good to go by Tuesday.
There was a case to be made for McMahon sticking at third base despite being a bad left-on-left matchup against Crochet, because of his defensive value behind Fried, who generated the most ground balls to third base of any pitcher this season.
Instead, the Yankees are going for the offensive upside of the right-handed hitting Caballero despite him being 0-for-7 lifetime against Crochet.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
