So, the Yankees have clinched their spot in the Wild Card round and we know Boston will very likely be their first round opponent. Barring a collapse by the Yankees, the best of 3 series will be played at Yankee Stadium again this year between these 2 long-time rivals. SU is already worried. Some things to consider:

1. The Red Sox will start Sonny Gray who has been very effective against the Yankees of late and then 2 lefties. Plus they have plenty of lefties in their bullpen including Chapman to close. No doubt the Yankees’ crack analytics department is already at work loading up the lineup with right handed hitters. If it was up to me, I am putting out my best hitters who have produced all year long, i.e., Rice, Garcia, Jr. But increasingly I am thinking that is not going to be the case. No doubt Boone will want to get Ramos in there as well as Goldschmidt for games 2 and 3.
2. Ramos has been slightly better of late with a couple of home runs. SU can envision them putting Ramos at DH and Goldschmidt at first. Plus they continue to think that Rosario will finally start hitting left-handers this year which has not been the case to date. Oy. In this scenario, both Rice and Garcia, Jr. are on the bench.
3. Spencer Jones needs to play every game. He can actually hit left-handed pitching and is able to go the other way. What a concept. He must have learned this on his own over the years in the Yankees farm system. But will they want to put Grisham back in center if his hamstring is healed? No way, right? Believe me: way.
4. Jazz Chisholm? This one will be interesting to watch. If Volpe can hit well down the stretch, they may be tempted to put him at 2nd although his error last night was not a good sign. SU predicts Jazz plays every game if he is healthy.
5. What to do with Gerrit Cole? Boston seems to knock him around a bit plus he has not been good of late. You have to figure it’s Schlittler in game 1 and Fried in game 2. Then do you go Rodon or Cole? And do you trust Cole in the series deciding game?
6. And of course, you cannot trust Boone’s in-game decision-making. That is worth 0.5 runs per game in the negative direction.

There is still an outside chance the Yankees can catch the Rays but they would likely have to sweep them in the upcoming 4-game series to get the tiebreaker for the season. The Yankees are winning of late but if you follow the games, they almost always do nothing against the starting pitchers and do their damage vs. the bullpens. Does that translate against the better teams in a short series? The Red Sox are actually not that good this year but they put the ball in play. Tons of 2nd guessing to come in this series if the Yankees fall short.

A few other random thoughts as we head into the Fall which is the most fun time of year for sports fans with college football and the NFL kicking off combined with the MLB playoffs:

1. SU had Ben Shelton winning the US Open at the start of the tournament and he certainly came close. He has grown on me over the years (I found him annoying back in 2023 with the phone hang-up gesturing but I am old and I know many enjoy this stuff). His dad is a great influence and he seems to be on a nice trajectory. Zverev had a good game plan in the finals by giving him no pace in almost every rally and daring Shelton to be more aggressive than he probably wanted to. I think he’ll learn from this loss. Zverev has a checkered past with the abuse charges of 2 ex-girlfriends which the announcers never mention, and he can’t ever beat Alcaraz or Sinner. But you have to give him credit for taking advantage of this year’s majors with one of those two sidelined.
2. The Giants gave off great vibes on Sunday night finally beating Dallas and playing with more confidence and poise. You can already see the impact of John Harbaugh. The bar is low for them this year but there is plenty of reason for optimism.
3. SU loves college football. OK, I know we are way past the days of “student-athletes” and all that with NIL money and what is basically free agency. There are always nutty endings to games, awful calls by the officials, and now even timekeeper scandals :). Fans live and die with the blown calls and controversies, but it is certainly entertaining. Texas had a wild 4th quarter comeback vs. Ohio State, Michigan had the clock issue in game 1, etc. For the record, I do not like the cupcake games to pad records. I fully understand why it’s done given the college playoff process and the need to chalk up wins but watching Miami beat Florida A&M 77-7 is silly.
4. Finally, a couple of streaming recommendations for you. The UConn women’s basketball documentary on Apple TV is excellent. The Djokovic documentary on Amazon is OK but not must see TV for SU. Fauda season 5 is excellent – very powerful.