Yanks won’t play into Rays’ mind games
CLEVELAND — So, it will come down to the Savages in the Box against The Stable in San Diego. The Yankees survived two-rain delays, the longest nine-inning game in MLB history and swept the American League Wild Card Series here in two days. Their “reward” is to travel across the country to face the team that antagonized and embarrassed them all season long.
And the one that got so deep into their heads the benches cleared and the MLB’s dean of discipline, Chris Young, had to step in.
The Yankees will face their American League East nemesis, the Tampa
Bay Rays, in the AL Division Series in San Diego beginning Monday. Already, the mind games began Thursday morning.
“We’re clearly the underdog now,” Aaron Boone said with a smirk. “They are the big, bad, number one seed of the AL East.
“So, I don’t think it’ll be very difficult for our guys to really focus on [the fact] we want to win,” the Yankees manager continued. “We want to win and advance and that’s where our focus is going to lie. We don’t want to get caught up in the back and forth. There’s going to be
things that come up that probably become a little bit contentious within the series, but I’m confident that our guys will do a good job of keeping their blinders on. We understand what’s at stake. The guys in that room, have been through a lot in the playoffs, have been through a lot of playoff battles, and this is about trying to go out and advance.”
You can dress the game up in the bunting and ceremony of the MLB playoff series. You can put the teams on a neutral field and isolate them in a playoff “bubble” as part of the league’s attempt to keep their postseason cash cow from being interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed over 200,000 Americans.
But this heated rivalry lives on in the heads of the Yankees and the Rays from year to year. This season, the Rays absolutely dominated the Yankees. They took eight of the 10 regular-season games in this coronavirus pandemic-shortened 60- game season. And, of course, everyone remembers the final series.
That was when the benches cleared. Rays manager Kevin Cash, furious that Aroldis Chapman, who was throwing up and in during the ninth inning of the Yankees only win over them in the Bronx, put a 101 mile per hour fastball too close to his player’s head. Cash lashed out at Boone and the Yankees coaching staff and then added a thinly-veiled threat.
“Somebody’s got to be accountable,” Cash said. “And the last thing I’ll say on this is I got a whole damn stable full of guys that throw 98 mph. Period.”
Cash and Boone were both suspended a game. Chapman, who said it was just bad fastball command, was suspended three games, though it is being appealed and has now been deferred to next season.
The Rays, still furious that Chapman did not serve a game, have embraced it. Their pitchers now wear T-Shirts that say “The Stable — Throwing 98 since ’98.”
Cole gets the start: The Yankees went out and got Gerrit Cole for October. Still, the ace can most likely only start once in this new American League Division Series format where the games will be five straight days without an off day.
Cole will start Monday night against the Rays at Petco Park and the rest is to be determined.
The Yankees went with Cole, Masahiro Tanaka and were going to start J.A. Happ in Game 3 of the Wild Card series if they hadn’t clinched in two. They also carried Deivi Garcia and Jordan Montgomery for this round and are expected to in the next series as well. ... The Yankees worked out at Progressive Field on Thursday before heading out to San Diego. They plan to have Friday off and then workout at Pet co Park on Saturday and Sunday.