The New York Yankees made the right decision before beginning their playoff series against the Boston Red Sox.
For the second straight year, the New York Yankees will be facing the Boston Red Sox in the Wild Card Series of the MLB playoffs, and once again, Cam Schlittler will have the opportunity to break Boston's heart.
Aaron Boone has revealed that Schlittler will be the Game 1 starter on Tuesday night, ending the curious deliberation over who would get the ball in the opener.
Max Fried will go Game 2, and Gerrit Cole is lined up to pitch Game 3 in the event that the series goes that far.
This is absolutely the right decision by Boone.
There were some who speculated that the Yankees would save Schlittler for Game 2, with Bob Nightengale of USA Today even going as far to report on Sunday morning that New York was expected to roll with Fried in Game 1.
But ultimately, the Yankees made the sane choice.
It wouldn't make any sense to snub Schlittler. Some felt that having him for Game 2 would be ideal because it could represent a potential closeout game, but wouldn't you rather just give yourself the best chance to go up 1-0?
Pitching coach Matt Blake even floated the idea of using Schlittler in Game 2 so he would be available for a potential Game 5 in the Division Series, but you can't think that far ahead. The next game is always the most important one, and having your best pitcher on the mound is the ideal way to proceed.
Schlittler posted a 1.95 ERA this season, racking up 239 strikeouts over 193.2 innings of work. He also owns a lifetime 0.56 ERA against the Red Sox, and who can forget his Game 3 performance last year when he tossed eight shutout innings with 12 punchouts?
How could the Yankees not go with Schlittler?
Fried has always been a bit shaky in October, as evidenced by his lifetime 5.31 ERA over 22 playoff appearances. Last year, he surrendered seven runs on 12 hits across 9.1 frames.
That's why choosing Schlittler was the obvious decision, and it's also nice that Cole would be the pick in a potential elimination game.
Carlos Rodon will be in the bullpen, which gives New York a tremendous arm to use in case of an early-game emergency ... or if Boone just wants to stack his best pitchers.
The Yankees are set up in a way where they should win this series, and having Schlittler at the forefront makes them that much more dangerous.
