The Yankees feature one of the better, more balanced benches that they have had entering any postseason under Aaron Boone.
That, of course, will only turn up the spotlight on how Boone chooses to use it in these high-stakes games.
It did not take long for the second-guessing to begin.
Facing Red Sox ace lefty Garrett Crochet in Game 1 of the wild-card series on Tuesday, the Yankees rolled out a lineup that had two of their best bats on the bench in Ben Rice and Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Boone had indicated on Monday that Rice would be on the bench because he wanted Austin Wells to catch Max Fried and have the right-handed hitting Paul Goldschmidt at first base against Crochet (despite Goldschmidt being 2-for-15 in his career against him). But Chisholm joining him there was a bit of a surprise, as the Yankees started Amed Rosario at second base and José Caballero at third base for Ryan McMahon. Rosario could have just played third base, except Fried gets tons of ground balls there, so they valued defense, which is why they had the right-handed hitting Caballero over the lefty McMahon.
All of it set up for an interesting chess match for Boone in deciding when to deploy his bench options.
“I prefer it this way,” Boone said of having strong bench pieces to use. “That’s been a difference with our club the last few months, is we didn’t have this option in the first half. We have real, significant moves you can make that can flip the game a little bit. Our bench has really improved.”
That paid some dividends down the stretch in how the Yankees were able to platoon their lefty-righty bats, either against starting pitchers or late in big spots against relievers.
The one spot the Yankees stuck with a left-handed hitter (compared to the last time they faced Crochet in the regular season) was having Trent Grisham start in center field over Austin Slater, who they left off the roster altogether because of his struggles at the plate since being acquired at the deadline.
The Yankees will almost certainly go back to their regular lineup for Game 2 on Wednesday against Red Sox righty Brayan Bello, with Rice batting in the heart of the order and playing first base and Chisholm back at second base.
“Ben is obviously a huge part of our offense, and has had a phenomenal year and is hot,” Boone said. “But I think part of that is he has faced the people he should be facing too. … Obviously we have a really good chip over there sitting on the bench hopefully in a big spot as well.”
Rice hit .208 with a .752 OPS against lefties this season while Goldschmidt — whom Boone said would play against every lefty this postseason — hit .336 with a .981 OPS.
As for Chisholm — whom Boone said was fine physically after getting smoked in the left forearm by a 97 mph sinker on Saturday — he hit .248 with a .733 OPS against lefties this season.
“As tough as Crochet is, he has been especially tough on lefties,” Boone said. “There’s no great matchup. Amed has good history with him. Hit him well, faced him a lot this year. Felt like I wanted that extra right-handed bat in there.”
And while Caballero was 0-for-7 in his career against Crochet, the Yankees still wanted his righty bat in the lineup and believed his defense measures up to McMahon’s.
“McMahon is obviously great, but Caballero is great at third, too,” Boone said. “They do it in different ways, but Cabby can really play third. But yes, the defensive part — ball in play with Fried, especially a right-handed lineup, is typically going to be on the pull side. So yeah, a little bit of hesitation there. But can’t have it all.”
