Gerrit Cole turns in solid regular-season finale as Yankees face wild-card round question

The regular-season portion of Gerrit Cole’s comeback from Tommy John surgery is complete. Now it is up to the Yankees to figure out where to slot him into their plans for the 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.On a night when neither team had anything to play for in terms of playoff positioning, Cole turned in a solid finale while throwing a season-high 105 pitches in a 9-2 win over the Rays on Wednesday night at a brisk Yankee Stadium. In a start that pitching coach Matt Blake indicated was “important” for deciding where Cole might figure into the pitching plans, the veteran right-hander scattered two runs on three hits and three walks across 5 ²/₃ innings while striking out eight.

Finishing the season with a 3.61 ERA, he still did not generate a ton of swings and misses, recording nine whiffs on 46 swings (four in 25 swings against his four-seam fastball), but got weaker contact than he had in his past few starts. Interestingly, the Yankees pushed Cole beyond where he had been since undergoing elbow surgery last year, with his 105 pitches marking only the second time he has entered triple digits in 22 starts this season. Ben Rice crushed his 40th and 41st home runs of the season, while the struggling Ryan McMahon hit a grand slam and had five RBIs. Before Cole’s penultimate start of the season Friday in Arizona, Aaron Boone said he would expect the former AL Cy Young winner to make a start in the wild-card series.But which game he takes remains to be seen. Boone said before Wednesday’s game that the Yankees were “not necessarily” lining up presumptive AL Cy Young winner Cam Schlittler for Game 1, only stating he would pitch one of the first two games.

Schlittler, who owns a 1.94 ERA, will pitch his regular-season finale Thursday, meaning he would be starting on his fifth day in Tuesday’s Game 1. If t...