So Tom Verducci has an SI piece about this today, this is the crucial quote:
“We’re going to be a little untraditional,” manager Aaron Boone said. “The only one we might use as a traditional starter is [James] Paxton.”
https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/09/16/new-york-yankees-world-series-piching
Verducci goes on later in the article to try to predict what this specifically means, and I think his conclusions are pretty wrong. First of all, if they're doing this, they've made it really obvious all season long that Chad Green as an opener will be a big part of it. I'm not going to try to predict myself yet as I think NY needs to see what they have in Severino (starting his first game of the season tomorrow) and Betances (his first game of the season was yesterday, pitched to two batters and struck them out both), and it also probably depends somewhat on who the opposition is and how they matchup. I'm quite sure that it won't involve Happ pitching twice in four days, as Verducci suggests. This is his guess (maybe he just made a mistake by listing Happ twice?):
======================================
Game 1: Paxton. He’s won his past nine starts, primarily because he stopped throwing about 85 percent fastballs. Since his streak began, he virtually doubled his curveball use, from 14 percent to 27 percent.
But in this 9-0 run Paxton has faced 27 batters only once. A reminder: hitters post a .897 OPS when facing the lefty for a third time. There is no way Boone is losing a postseason game by leaving a starter in too long–including Paxton, his one “traditional” starter.
Game 2: Severino and Happ, not necessarily in that order. Severino makes his first start Tuesday. He’s not going to be stretched out enough to be treated as a traditional starter. When I asked Boone if he planned to use Severino first or second in a piggyback situation, he said, “I don’t know. We’ll see.”
Game 3: Sabathia and German. In a preview last week in Detroit, we saw these two pitchers cover 22 outs while allowing two runs. The Yankees like to trust Sabathia on the road. As with Severino and Happ, you flip the lineup with different-sided pitchers.
Game 4: Tanaka and Happ. Boone mentioned that even Tanaka’s role may be as a “floater.” Another right-left tandem.
Game 5: Paxton.
“We’re going to be a little untraditional,” manager Aaron Boone said. “The only one we might use as a traditional starter is [James] Paxton.”
https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/09/16/new-york-yankees-world-series-piching
Verducci goes on later in the article to try to predict what this specifically means, and I think his conclusions are pretty wrong. First of all, if they're doing this, they've made it really obvious all season long that Chad Green as an opener will be a big part of it. I'm not going to try to predict myself yet as I think NY needs to see what they have in Severino (starting his first game of the season tomorrow) and Betances (his first game of the season was yesterday, pitched to two batters and struck them out both), and it also probably depends somewhat on who the opposition is and how they matchup. I'm quite sure that it won't involve Happ pitching twice in four days, as Verducci suggests. This is his guess (maybe he just made a mistake by listing Happ twice?):
======================================
Game 1: Paxton. He’s won his past nine starts, primarily because he stopped throwing about 85 percent fastballs. Since his streak began, he virtually doubled his curveball use, from 14 percent to 27 percent.
But in this 9-0 run Paxton has faced 27 batters only once. A reminder: hitters post a .897 OPS when facing the lefty for a third time. There is no way Boone is losing a postseason game by leaving a starter in too long–including Paxton, his one “traditional” starter.
Game 2: Severino and Happ, not necessarily in that order. Severino makes his first start Tuesday. He’s not going to be stretched out enough to be treated as a traditional starter. When I asked Boone if he planned to use Severino first or second in a piggyback situation, he said, “I don’t know. We’ll see.”
Game 3: Sabathia and German. In a preview last week in Detroit, we saw these two pitchers cover 22 outs while allowing two runs. The Yankees like to trust Sabathia on the road. As with Severino and Happ, you flip the lineup with different-sided pitchers.
Game 4: Tanaka and Happ. Boone mentioned that even Tanaka’s role may be as a “floater.” Another right-left tandem.
Game 5: Paxton.