Yankees could have greater need with destiny out of their hands in tall Rays task
What had the potential to be a juicy showdown this week in The Bronx may not be worth the squeeze for the Yankees. Even if they go all out to sweep the Rays in a four-game series, they still would need to keep winning and get some help on the final weekend of the regular season to complete a comeback and take the AL East.If they lose even one game to the Rays at Yankee Stadium, though, the race would be over, with Tampa Bay popping champagne as division champs and the Yankees all but locked into facing the Red Sox in an AL wild-card series next week. Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.
Of course, right up until the Yankees are officially eliminated from the AL East race, they will try to catch the Rays, beginning by starting Carlos Rodón and Max Fried in Tuesday’s doubleheader.But if what seems inevitable comes to fruition — they trail by six games with seven to play — the Yankees can turn their attention to the arguably more important things awaiting them in the coming days. “It’s tough,” José Caballero said as the Yankees packed their bags after losing a second straight winnable game to the Diamondbacks on Sunday at Chase Field.
“We fight for this the whole season, but at the end of the day, we’re already in the postseason, so that’s what we look forward to.Just be better and learn from little mistakes and play clean baseball in the postseason.” Even if the Yankees pull off a sweep of the Rays, any combination of two Yankees losses (against the Orioles) or Rays wins (against the Phillies) would mean the Rays still win the division. It would behoove the Yankees to get some early clarity on the division, allowing them to focus on some housekeeping this week.
Doing so would give them an opportunity to rest their most heavily used relievers; set up their rotation order how they choose to face the Red Sox (Cam Schlittler or Gerrit Col...