Schlittler Opens, Rice Hits Cleanup, and New York Hopes That's Enough

Aaron Judge has been ruled out for the wild-card series. I wrote the longer version of this two days ago, so I'll keep it short here: the 10-day IL designation leaves a door open for later rounds, but for right now, the Yankees' best hitter isn't playing.

What they have instead: Cam Schlittler on the mound for Game 1, which is genuinely good news. He's been the team's ace all season at 17-6 with a 1.85 ERA, and in a short series you can build around one elite starter. Behind him, Max Fried at 2.85 ERA gives them a credible second arm. The concern is everything after that — Weathers and Schmidt are both on the IL, and Luis Gil has barely been able to get through two innings at a stretch lately. The bullpen will be asked to carry a heavy load.

Offensively, Ben Rice leads the group. The All-Star first baseman has 18 home runs on the season, and Ali Sánchez has hit .314 in his limited time. Giancarlo Stanton is healthy and in the lineup. It's a functional offense, just not one that scares anyone the way a Judge-led lineup does. The Yankees went 16-26 in one-run games this year, which is the number that keeps coming back. Wild-card baseball tends to be decided exactly there.