Bronx Bomber Ball

Yankees fans, the postseason is finally upon us. The 162-game journey that is the Major League Baseball regular season has come to a close, and the Bronx Bombers won 100 games for the first time since 2009. While the season had its ups-and-downs, it’s remarkable that this team found a way to win that many contests considering the injuries they faced. Unfortunately, the Boston Red Sox had an historic 108-win season, so New York will be hosting the Wild Card game for the second straight year, and the third time in four years. With that comes some difficult roster decisions, namely who the starting pitcher will be, who to keep in the bullpen and which position players to keep on the bench. This article is a prediction of the Yankees' 25-man roster, starting pitcher and starting lineup for Wednesday’s game against the Athletics. I have predicted the team will keep 14 position players and 11 pitchers. Last year, Joe Girardi opted for 15 position players and 10 pitchers. For

There’s no longer plenty of time. It’s almost October baseball and we are down to the final three games of the season. The magic number for the Yankees to play the American League Wild Card game at Yankee Stadium stands at one. Photo Credit: AP

When Zach Britton was acquired from the Orioles in late July, he was viewed largely as a luxury to an already loaded Yankees bullpen. However, as the regular season winds down, and the calendar flips to October, Britton has become much more than that. In fact, at this critical point of the season, the 30-year-old lefty has established himself as the team’s most trustworthy reliever. This development is somewhat hard to believe considering the inauspicious start that Britton’s New York career got off to, but here we are. Photo Credit: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

Entering the last week of the regular season the Yankees opened a four-game set Monday night in the always dreaded trip to face the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees came into tonight sitting one and a half games (two in the loss column) above the Oakland A’s for home field advantage in the AL Wild Card game. Aaron Boone decided to go with a “bullpen day” tonight instead of giving the ball to a typical starter.

We’ve seen one sign of the old Luis Severino . He picked up the W against the Red Sox on September 19 th , and if there was ever an opportunity for Severino to get back to his old, first-half, self, that was the opportunity. It cannot be denied that Severino rose to the challenge of that game. Photo Credit: Getty Images/Billie Weiss

The Yankees’ offense pounded Orioles’ pitching for ten runs on Friday, and the excess of runs was the key to the win as David Robertson, Jonathan Loaisiga, and A.J. Cole combined to allow six runs in relief. Despite the near collapse, the Yankees sealed the deal in the ninth as Betances picked up his fourth save of the season in the 10-8 victory.   Photo Credit: AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

After taking the first two games of their series against the Boston Red Sox, the Yankees sought to complete the sweep on Thursday and prevent the Red Sox from celebrating a division title at Yankee Stadium. As is usually the case between these two teams, Thursday’s game was a back and forth contest but the Red Sox ultimately prevailed 11-6 and will be leaving New York as the AL East champs. Credit: AP Photo/Julio Cortez

The Yankees built off last night’s win by dominating the Red Sox throughout the game to a 10-1 win on Wednesday Night Baseball on ESPN. Luis Severino outmatched lefty David Price, as the Yanks offense, unsurprisingly led by Luke Voit, continued its dominance on Price. Photo Credit: Frank Franklin II/AP

Aaron Judge made his return to the Yankees’ starting lineup today, going 0-for-4. He looked comfortable in the batter’s box, however, with a couple hard-hit line outs and a questionable non-check swing call with a 3-2 count. He also looked very smooth in right field, making a few catches throughout the day. Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

Series Preview: Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees (9-18/9-20) This series would have been a much more exciting series to watch about a month ago. However, at this point in the season, in which the Yankees won’t be able to make up enough games to catch their arch rivals, the first-place Boston Red Sox, admittedly -- it’s not nearly as exciting. But that’s not to say that the Yankees aren’t still in a postseason race, and every game, regardless of opponent, matters more than the last one. That is also not to say that watching the Yankees play the Red Sox is not an event in and of itself, and the fact that it’s September heightens the stakes. Also, let’s not  forget that a potentially injured Mookie Betts could make for a weaker Red Sox roster; even if he’s not sidelined to the D.L., he may not give his best performance possible. With any luck, fans can hope that it’s a preview of a postseason series to come… Photo Credit: D. Ross Cameron/USA Today Sports

Justus Sheffield has finally gotten his long awaited call up to the New York Yankees. The 22-year-old is the Yankees top prospect, and the number three Left-Handed Pitching prospect in the entire MLB. Along with Sheffield, Domingo German, somebody who is familiar to Yankees fans, is also coming back to the big league club for the first time since July 20. Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Over the last two weeks the Yankees have been playing subpar baseball. They are 6-8 over their last 14 games and are coming off two straight losses to the Twins. This bad stretch of ball has let the Oakland A’s creep into the first wild card spot discussion as they sit just 1.5 games behind the Yanks.

It doesn’t feel too long ago that Luis Severino was beyond the obvious choice of starting Yankees pitcher in a hypothetical American League Wild Card one-game playoff. Photo Credit: Howard Simmons/TNS

I get it. The Yankees are a 90-win team and only need to go 10-6 in their last 16 games to win 100 games, a feat accomplished just over 100 times since 1892. There are 20+ fanbases in the sport that have it worse off than the Yankees, and it is a very feasible argument that if it wasn’t for the Red Sox historic success, the skepticism surrounding the Bronx Bombers would be minimal. Photo Credit: Newsday

This season has been one full of ups-and-downs so far and you can look no further than the starting rotation. Jordan Montgomery, looking to build upon his strong rookie campaign, had to have Tommy John Surgery back in the early stages of the season. Luis Severino was perhaps the best pitcher in the AL for the first few months of the season and was a legitimate option to start for the AL in the All-Star game. Now, he’s a shell of the guy he was in the first half and hasn’t been right for about two months now. Severino is still surely an option to start the AL Wild Card game for the Yanks, but he’s not one of the top ones as of now. Sonny Gray, expected to establish himself as the Yankees’ #2 starter when acquired last July, has fallen off mightily to the point that he’s now a long reliever in the bullpen. As for the top three, most realistic options to start the AL WC game, it comes down to Masahiro Tanaka, JA Happ, and ageless wonder CC Sabathia. Photo Credit: AP

The Yankees ended their nine-game road trip in aggravating fashion Wednesday with a 3-1 loss at the hands of the lowly Minnesota Twins. Somehow, New York went 4-6 against three AL Central teams (Chicago, Detroit and Minnesota) with records well under .500 over the last two weeks. With the loss, the Yankees are now only one game up on the Oakland Athletics for the top Wild Card spot. This is extremely concerning considering Oakland has a much easier schedule down the stretch. Photo Credit: Jim Mone/AP Photo

Well, Didi tried. Didi Gregorius tried to win the game today. The Yankee shortstop had himself a terrific day, going 2-for-3 with one walk, two runs scored, and four RBIs thanks to a sixth inning grand slam which came in vein, as the rest of the offense only totaled three hits (two by Andujar and one by McCutchen), and the pitching combined for 10 runs on a night where Sonny Gray got the spot start. Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

It’s nearing the middle of September, and playoff baseball is right around the corner. As the Yankees head into the final stretch of the regular season, there are many decisions that need to be made for October. One of the biggest decisions is who will get the ball in the AL Wild Card Game, if the standings are to hold. Cases can be made for almost everyone in the current starting rotation, but perhaps most easily for Luis Severino and J.A. Happ. The dark horse candidate, however, is someone who has already started a Wild Card game, Masahiro Tanaka.   Photo Credit: NY Times

Facing off against another measly team in the Twins, the Yanks took advantage of another great performance by deadline acquisition JA Happ and won the first game of the series with ease.   After each offense was quite silent the first five innings, the Yanks dominated to a 7-2 win. Photo Credit: Jim Mone

After losing two out of three to the Oakland Athletics earlier this week, the Yankees were able to take the series against the Seattle Mariners after last night's victory. Going for the series sweep, CC Sabathia and the bullpen only surrendered three runs, but the offense could not capitalize with runners in scoring position to score more than two against Erasmo Ramirez.  Photo Credit: Getty Images/Stephen Brashear

The current Aroldis Chapman Injury situation is not the Yankees’ (or Chapman’s) first rodeo regarding Chapman and his problem recurring knee tendinitis . Regardless, it’s no secret to the Yankees, or to fans, that Chapman saves games. His absence since this recent D.L. stint is, at first glance, conspicuous. And the Yankees will certainly be better off in the postseason with Chapman than without him. Credit: Lynne Sladky/AP

The night after J.A. Happ made a great case to be the Wild Card Game starter against presumably the Oakland A’s, Luis Severino did himself the exact opposite. Sevy continued his inconsistent play, lasting just 2.2 innings and giving up 6 runs (5 earned) on 6 hits with 1 walk and 3 strikeouts. Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

J.A. Happ pitched a spectacular game, lasting 6+ innings and only giving up 1 run on 2 hits on only 78 pitches. Happ had just the one blemish, a line similar to his tenure with the Yankees; that one blemish being his last start against the Tigers where Happ lasted just 4.1 innings and giving up 5 runs on 10 hits. J.A. bounced back very well, possibly making a case to be the Wild Card Game starter. Meanwhile the Yankee offense blew up in the final three frames to give the Yankees a big 5-1 victory in Oakland. Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

It was a Labor Day to forget for the Yankees, as they dropped the first game of their crucial, three-game series in Oakland by a score of 6-3. With Monday’s loss, the Yankees are now eight games back in the loss column of the Boston Red Sox in the AL East, and four games up in the loss column of the Oakland Athletics for the top Wild Card spot. Photo Credit: Thearon Henderson/Getty Images

Series Preview: New York Yankees vs Oakland Athletics (9-3/9-5)                      There’s no Labor Day rest for the Yankees (and no rest for the fans, let’s get ready for a few bleary-eyed weekday mornings after two games with 10pm starts), as they head over to the West Coast to face the Oakland Athletics, following a seven-game home stand. Only rest for Aaron Boone, who will be fresh off his one-game suspension after being ejected on August 31st. The Yankees and the Athletics met only once over the course of the 2018 season so far, and this meeting is far more important than the three-game series that the two teams met for in May. The series was described by YES’ own Michael Kay, during the broadcast of the September 2nd game versus the Tigers, as one of the “biggest of the year.” It’s a potential preview of the A.L. Wild Card Game, with the Yankees 7.5 games behind the first place Red Sox in the A.L. East, and the Athletics 1.5 games behind the first place, defendi

Show of hands, folks: coming into the 2018 season, did anyone think that Miguel Andújar, while we knew he was getting the call , would take over as the Yankees’ starting third baseman? Not with the likes of Brandon Drury around, and certainly not before Todd Fraizer skipped on over to that other New York team. It seemed, that even with a few stellar 2017 season appearances , we all forgot about Andújar, and the buzz surrounding other Yankees prospects not named Gleyber Torres Photo Credit: Getty Images

A very disappointing home stand ended Sunday as the Yankees fell to the Tigers, 11-7, to split their four-game series with Detroit. The Yankees were presented with a golden opportunity to make up more ground on Boston this week, but instead went 3-4 against the lowly White Sox and Tigers. Heading into the next week, the Yanks will either be seven or eight games back of Boston in the loss column. Photo Credit: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

Behind seven strong innings from Masahiro Tanaka and a fifth inning blast from  Gleyber  Torres, the Yankees took the third game in their  four-game  set with the Tigers yesterday by the count of 2-1.  This game featured the Yankees debut of Andrew McCutchen (0-3, 2K, HBP) and the return of Gary Sanchez.   Photo Credit: Bill Kostroun/AP Photo

The number one need for the Yankees down the stretch is...Aaron Boone correctly managing the bullpen.   Photo Courtesy: New York Post

Following their victory against the Detroit Tigers on Friday, the Yankees announced a minor trade in the wee hours of Saturday morning. With several minor leaguers likely to join the big club in the coming days, the Yankees further bolstered their depth by acquiring SS Adeiny Hechavarria from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations. To make room for Hechavarria on the 40-man roster, LHP Ryan Bollinger was designated for assignment. The Yankees have been stretched thin due to injuries in recent weeks and Hechavarria will give the team an experienced big leaguer to add to their bench. Credit: Justin Berl/Getty Images