Starting pitching depth gives Yankees Edge

The New York Yankees stumbled Thursday night but there is one big reason why they still have an excellent chance to win their first World Series title since 2009 – an eternal wait for a franchise with 27 titles.

The Yankees are the last of the four teams remaining in the MLB postseason that has a full complement of starting pitchers. As hard as it may be to believe, the Cleveland Guardians, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets have had to revert to using openers, bulk relievers and bullpen games in October.

It might not have mattered so much Thursday night when two-run home runs by Jhonkensy Noel in the ninth inning and David Fry in the 10th rallied the Guardians to a dramatic 7-5 victory over the visiting Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series at Progressive Field.

However, the Yankees still lead the series 2-1 and might have the best chance of any team in the final four to be the last one standing. And it’s because they have accrued enough starting pitching to outlast the field.

“I think right now with the teams left, it is probably something that differentiates us a little bit because I feel like we're going to roll out four really good starters at you that have a chance to get us deeper into a game and hopefully set our pen up to be used even better,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Part of it is we've been able to remain fairly healthy from a starting rotation, which I think is one of the reasons we were able to win our division and secure the best record in the American League.

“It starts with those guys and them being able to go to the post as consistently as they did this year. But like where all those guys are, and like the chance they give us every time each one of them takes the ball.

To appreciate the Yankees’ starting pitcher, consider how thin the Guardians are in that department. Matthew Boyd’s five innings on Thursday was the longest outing by a starter in Cleveland’s eight postseason.

The Guardians turn to right-hander Gavin Williams to start Game 4. He has yet to pitch in the postseason and went 3-10 during an injury-marred regular season.

Even in this era of managers routinely pulling starters after two times through the batting order, it’s hard to believe that a team that won the AL Central this season doesn’t have at least one starter capable of pitching into the sixth inning.

Of course, part of the reason is manager Stephen Vogt’s aggressive use of the bullpen. Or some might say reckless use of his relievers.

Closer Emmanuel Clase pitched more than one inning only once in 74 appearances during the regular season. Vogt has used Clase for multiple innings in each of his last three postseason appearances and the returns are diminishing.

Clase was brought in during the eighth inning in Game 3 to protect a 3-1 lead. However, Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer and Giancarlo Stanton followed with a solo shot to put the Yankees ahead 4-3.

The Guardians rallied to take Clase off the hook but weren’t so fortunate in Game 2 of their AL Division Series against the Detroit Tigers. Clase came on in the eighth inning of a 0-0 tie but gave up a three-run home run to Kerry Carpenter in the ninth that accounted for all the scoring.

Even though the stunning win Thursday night was a morale booster for the Guardians and their relievers had the best ERA in the major leagues during the regular season, it’s fair to wonder if the relievers will soon collapse under the weight of such a heavy workload.

Guardians relievers have pitched 41 1/3 innings this postseason, an average of 5.2 a game. Cleveland must win six more games to capture its first World Series title since 1948 and that’s going to require a lot more innings, including Friday night when it’s doubtful Williams can pitch for very long.

The two teams meeting in the NLCS, the Dodgers and Mets, are also relying heavily on their bullpens.

Los Angeles went with a bullpen day in Game 2, using five relievers in a 7-3 loss.

New York started Kodai Senga in Game 1 even though he has been limited to 7 1/3 innings this year between the regular season and postseason because of injuries. Senga got just four outs and allowed three runs as the Dodgers rolled to a 9-0 win while the Mets bullpen was forced to cover 6 2/3 innings.

Yankees starters haven’t compiled many innings in the postseason, either with 35 1/3 in seven games – an average of 5.0. Still, Boone can use a legitimate major-league starter in every game, beginning with reigning AL Cy Young award winner Gerritt Cole and including left-hander Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt and rookie Luis Gil.

The Yankees also have Marcus Stroman, who made 29 regular-season starts before being shifted to the bullpen for the playoffs. While he was 10-9 with a 4.31 ERA this year, Stroman is only one year removed from being selected to the All-Star Game.

In this postseason, that is a nice luxury to have.