Source: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY SportsWell, if the season ended before last night's win against the Toronto Blue Jays, the New York Yankees would be playing Tampa Bay Rays likely in San Diego. But if they can keep a hold of second place, they could end up at Dodger's Stadium against the Minnesota Twins. All of this is part of the new post season blueprint for 2020 as Major League Baseball confirmed their playoff strategy on Tuesday, which includes bubble cities to help combat the virus and keep traveling to a minimum.
"After getting approval from the Players Association, the league announced it would hold the final three rounds of the playoffs -- the Division Series, League Championship Series and World Series -- at neutral-site locations. Players will be housed nearby to set up one-location bubbles for each series," reported CBS Sports.
This year's games will require a different strategy as less travel means less rest days, requiring players and pitchers to be in better shape to compete at their highest level. "As for the day-by-day schedule, one wrinkle to notice is the lack of off-days. Usually the postseason includes ample rest and travel time, even more than in the regular season, but this year each series plays all the way through on consecutive days — except the World Series, which maintains its normal spacing between Games 2/3 and 5/6," reported SB Nation.
Source: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports
With Tuesday night's 20-6 blowout against the Blue Jays, the Yankees put themselves in much better position to ramp up their lineup and get things in order. As Gio Urshela and Giancarlo Stanton entered back into the lineup on Tuesday night, the Yankees will welcome back Aaron Judge on Thursday. This may be in just enough time to pull things together and cohesively thread a championship path.
But Boone will have to let go of his old bull pen strategy of not using pitchers multiple days, to be willing to put in place, "all hands on deck" in order to actually compete in this year's playoffs. The best team will win in this sprint. Can it be the Yankees? We will have to see if they can stay healthy and continue to be the team that's been on the field over the last six games.
--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof
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