If the Yankees starters can go five plus innings, they can win the ALCS in grand fashion and not have to kill their bullpen in the meantime.
A rough 2-1 start in the ALCS has the Yankees reeling. While there is still optimism surrounding this team, who is to blame for their recent struggles? The offense hasn’t done their part in scoring runs and the bullpen can only pitch so many innings each game.
Besides Tanaka, Yankees starters have not done their jobs to go deep into ball games and it has been a less than ideal situation for the Bombers. With Paxton giving the Yankees 2 1/3 and supposedly tipping pitches and Severino going 4 1/3 and again tipping pitches; a significant reason why he fluttered in last season’s postseason appearance against the Red Sox. The magic number should be 5 innings. That gives the Yankees the edge they so desperately covet. This gives time for the Boone to deploy the best bullpen in baseball in a fashion no other team will face in their lifetime.
Who would be able to hit off of a pitching staff of a dominant Sevy for five, to go along with the reinforcements of a Chad Green, Tommy Kahnle, Zack Britton, and Aroldis Chapman, who the hell is hitting off of that on normal rest? The Yankees have the edge here and it isn’t even close. In order to settle the starters down, Aaron Boone and Larry Rothchild have to figure out how to create some length for these Yankees starters.
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The bullpen is doing a hell of a job keeping the Yankees in these games. It is still an encouraging sign that the Yankees have been in every single game with the offense sputtering under baseball’s brightest lights.
Do not be discouraged however; while still having two games in the Bronx with the biggest home filed advantage is a sign of encouragement that they can get the job done. With having the utmost confidence in this team all year, things should not change from a fan’s perspective. No one should be playing the blame game here, great teams can have a bad stretch here and there. The key is to have the leaders pick up the team and prevail and beat this Astros team that has been a thorn in the side of the Yankees for the past couple of years.
As we have watched, the Astros are beatable. The goal is five innings and the Yankees can do this. They are built for this. Let’s get this win tomorrow and show the world how wild the Bronx Zoo is.