Friday night the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins will open the ALDS at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees went 103-59 to win the AL East this year while the Twins went 101-61 to win the AL Central. Here is the full postseason schedule.
When the ALDS begins, veteran stalwart CC Sabathia will not be on New York's roster, Yankees manager Aaron Boone revealed Thursday morning. Sabathia is dealing with a shoulder issue.
CC Sabathia will not be on the ALDS roster. Aaron Boone said Sabathia’s shoulder did not bounce back as well as they had hoped. Had cortisone shot.. he’ll continue to work to potentially be an option moving fwd #yankees
— Meredith Marakovits (@M_Marakovits) October 3, 2019
Sabathia was expected to pitch in relief in the postseason. He made a tune-up relief appearance last week -- it was the first regular season relief appearance of his career -- and was scheduled to pitch again in the final series of the season this past weekend, but was unable to go. Sabathia has had ongoing knee problems for years, but now it's his shoulder.
The 39-year-old Sabathia pitched to a 4.95 ERA in 107 1/3 innings this season, though he held left-handed batters to a .198 batting average with a 25.4 percent strikeout rate, giving him a postseason role as a lefty-on-lefty matchup reliever. That roster spot could now go to a lefty like Tyler Lyons or Stephen Tarpley. The Yankees will announce their ALDS roster on Friday.
Sabathia announced 2019 will be his final season back in spring training. With him off the ALDS roster, New York's postseason bullpen figures to look something like this:
- Closer: LHP Aroldis Chapman
- Setup: LHP Zack Britton, LHP Adam Ottavino
- Middle: RHP Chad Green, RHP Tommy Kahnle, LHP Lyons or Tarpley
- Long: RHP Luis Cessa, LHP J.A. Happ
Boone also announced Thursday that James Paxton will start Game 1, as expected, with Masahiro Tanaka and Luis Severino following in Games 2 and 3, respectively.
