Gerrit Cole will start ALDS Game 1 for Yankees
Gerrit Cole at Yankees practice on Sun. Oct. 9, 2022 at Yankee Stadium before the ALDS. Credit: Errol Anderson
Though there was plenty of organizational debate about going in a different direction, the Yankees ultimately decided not to rock the boat when it came to their rotation order for the Division Series against the Guardians.
So Gerrit Cole was tabbed to start Tuesday’s Game 1 at the Stadium, opposed by a Guardians pitcher yet to be announced. Nestor Cortes will go in Game 2 on Thursday and Luis Severino will take the mound at Progressive Field in Game 3 on Saturday.
The series will continue on Sunday and Monday, if necessary. Aaron Boone said the Yankees likely will go with a three-man rotation, with Jameson Taillon as a bullpen option for anything from multiple innings to closing.
“This is one of the areas of our club that I’m really excited about heading into the postseason,” Boone said Sunday. “I feel like all three of those guys . . . We can go match up with other teams’ pitchers. Feel like this is the best way to line it up as we embark on our goal to win the championship.”
Boone and general manager Brian Cashman provided variations of word salad in answering the specific question of how much consideration a pitcher other than Cole was given for the Game 1 assignment.
“With those three guys, I really like where they’re at and feel like we stack up really well in all three, so I at least considered every angle, but ultimately decided this was the way we wanted to go,” Boone said.
Cole was more superb than not this season, going 13-8 with a 3.50 ERA in 33 starts. The righthander set a franchise single-season record with 257 strikeouts, breaking the previous mark of 248 set by Ron Guidry in 1978.
He also surrendered a career-high — and American League-high — 33 homers in 200 2⁄3 innings, which caused its share of concern in the organization. Of the 81 runs he allowed, 55 (68%) scored as the result of home runs.
Cortes and his sometimes quirky delivery had the best season of any Yankees starter, going 12-4 with a 2.44 ERA in 28 starts. In three starts after returning from the 60-day injured list in mid-September, Severino (7-3 with a 3.18 ERA in 19 starts) looked like the ace he was projected to be years ago. In his final postseason tune-up last Monday against the Rangers, Severino threw seven no-hit innings.
In the end, the Yankees decided against opening the barn door on selecting someone other than their $324 million ace for Game 1. If Cole didn’t start the ALDS opener, those questions would persist for the rest of this postseason, and likely for Octobers to come.
Additionally, the matchup against the light-hitting Guardians — instead of the Rays, against whom Cole has struggled at times as a Yankee — may have played a role.
“The one thing I can represent is that there’s a lot of thought and conversation that goes into every decision he [Boone] makes,” Cashman said in response to a question about considering Cortes or Severino for Game 1. “He relies on his staff . . . I think he puts all the work in that’s necessary and then he comes up with a decision that he feels is best to help his franchise match up at least this next round and hopefully rounds beyond that.
“But I can tell you, a lot of thought went into it regardless — who to go with [in Game 1], who should go 2, who should go 3. He’s got his reasons on it, but I feel really good about our starting rotation no matter who we deploy.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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