Around the Empire: Yankees news - 10/3/18

Newsday | David Lennon: Luis Severino doesn’t have the most impressive Wild Card resume, but he still gets the nod tonight. While he struggled for most of the second half, he showed signs of turning it around. Severino’s one of the best pitchers in baseball when he’s pitching well and if he is he’ll have the chance to go deep in the game. If he struggles, though, the Yankees will have arms ready. Fortunately, last year’s Wild Card Game gave them a blueprint on how to succeed in a worst-case scenario.

Associated Press via New York Post: While Luis Severino got the nod to start for the Yankees tonight, the Athletics rotation questions are even worse than the Yankees. Mike Fiers was the favorite to start tonight as he’s their most reliable healthy starter, but instead the A’s will use Liam Hendriks as an opener. The Rays gave MLB a blueprint for the opener but the A’s have been using it successfully for a while now and we’ll see it in the postseason for the first time.

New York Post | Dan Martin: Because it’s such a new concept, the A’s use of an opener tonight is highly talked about. However, Aaron Judge doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal. Being in a division with the Rays gave the team plenty of experience in dealing with an opener and seeing multiple pitchers throughout the game. Judge says a bullpen game changes his approach, but as long as the team prepares properly they should be fine.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: The official roster for tonight’s game won’t be announced until later in the day, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have an idea of who we’ll see. Aaron Boone gave some insight on who will be on the roster tonight and there are no real big surprises. The most interesting decision is that Kyle Higashioka will make the roster as the third catcher and Greg Bird will unsurprisingly (though it’s still weird) be left off.

Forbes | Gary Phillips: Giancarlo Stanton, who is a Yankee now, is finally going to get a taste of the playoffs. Coming off an underwhelming (for his standards) season, Stanton has a chance to change the story of his first season in pinstripes and that all starts tonight. Stanton’s looking forward to playing in the playoffs and to the challenge of having the spotlight on him as a member of the Yankees in October.

Go Yankees, go baseball, go away Wild Card Game.