The Yankees still have some time before they start their run in the postseason, but it seems that manager Aaron Boone is going to stick with Gerrit Cole as the Game 1 starter in the American League Division Series.
It comes as Cole has struggled in the latter half of the year while on the mound and during a season in which he has given up a career-high 33 home runs this season. That’s not to say the Yankees starter has had a bad year, in which he went 13-8 in 33 starts while posting a 3.50 ERA and setting a new franchise record with 257 strikeouts.
Boone had reportedly said recently on the Michael Kay Show on ESPN New York and during an appearance on the “The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman” that Cole would be the starter for Game 1.
“No, it hasn’t not changed, I just want to make sure that’s the way I want to go, and we’ll finalize that here probably over the next 24 hours, Boone said before the Yankees regular-season finale on Wednesday.
Still, Nestor Cortes has given more than enough of a showing to make it worth considering him for the Game 1 start. He has had an outstanding season and been impressive during his final few starts of the year.
Cortes finished the year with a 12-4 record and a 2.44 ERA in 28 starts in pinstripes. Even Luis Severino has made his case for the series opening start with his play.
In his last start of the year, he threw seven innings of no-hit ball before he was taken out of the game. Severino went 7-4 with a 3.18 ERA this season.
For more New York Yankees news, turn to AMNY.com
Whatever Boone decides to do will likely be figured out very soon so that he can have his ducks in a row for the start of the playoffs next week.
“There’s definitely a few (questions) for how we want to line things up,” Boone said. “We’ll be getting some answers to questions on some injured guys and are they gonna be in play.”
