The Yankees are finally back here.
There were long slumps by Giancarlo Stanton, season-long ones by Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird, a significant Aaron Judge injury, a rotation that lacks a true ace and a bullpen that at times failed to live up to immense talent it possesses.
It’s a season that never has felt perfect, but any frustrations can be relieved over the next month starting with Wednesday night’s wild-card game against the feel-good Athletics.
“There are a lot of question marks as far as heading into the wild-card game. Who gets the ball? Is Gary Sanchez behind the dish?” veteran infielder and MLB Network analyst Mark DeRosa said.
“You have a lot of right-handers in the lineup against an Oakland team that is going to have a lot of right-handers throwing just absolute thunder out of the bullpen at you. At the same time, if the Yankees can escape the wild-card game, I think they can advance very far. I really do believe that.”
The immense expectations of this season really started a year ago when the Yankees made a surprising run to Game 7 of the ALCS. Still, they fired manager Joe Girardi and replaced him with Aaron Boone right out of the ESPN booth, and added Stanton to an already dangerous lineup.
“Booney’s doing an amazing job,” said DeRosa, who now counts Girardi as an MLB Network colleague. “It is his first time doing this, and he has a team in the postseason that’s the most storied franchise. It came with the pressure of being World Series or bust, the pressure of following a manager who took his team to within one game of the World Series.
“All that stuff laying on him couldn’t have been easy. He’s dealt with a ton of injuries, a bullpen that has fluctuated in terms of production, but he’s had two rookies that have emerged in [Miguel] Andujar and [Gleyber] Torres who have been godsends for him. I think he’s been great.”
The next big decision for Boone is who will start in the wild-card game against the Athletics. Luis Severino has struggled much of the second half after a Cy Young-caliber start, and Masahiro Tanaka is wobbling to the finish line. J.A. Happ, who was acquired at the trade deadline, has been the Yankees’ most consistent starter since putting on the pinstripes.
“I know he has no problem taking the ball in that spot and I know exactly what I am getting. If he gets in any trouble, I am going to the bullpen immediately in a one-game playoff,” DeRosa said.
DeRosa considered a similar broadcasting-to-managing path as Boone traveled, interviewing for the Mets vacancy that ultimately went to Mickey Callaway. He considered it a learning experience, and is open “to the right fit” if it comes along. But the 43-year-old New Jersey native remembers why he wanted the Mets job.
“I was interested in creating an environment and creating relationships with guys and put something together to win a championship in the greatest city in the world. That was my thought,” DeRosa said. “I grew up here, I know what the fan base craves and what works and what doesn’t in this environment. That was the appeal to me, everything.”
Now, Boone has that chance. First, he just has to beat the A’s.
