New York

Yankees

Interesting. Because of the extra off day built into the ALDS schedule, teams only need three starters. The Yankees, though, seem set to use four anyway. They could then pick between Gerrit Cole on six days’ rest or Cam Schlittler on four days’ rest in a potential Game 5.

The call might go down to the wire Saturday morning. Judge hasn’t played since suffering a calf strain on Sept. 16.

Cole would have started Game 3 against the Red Sox. He figures to be followed by Cam Schlittler and Max Fried against the Rays. There is an extra day off in the ALDS, so the Yankees will probably use just the three starters, putting Carlos Rodón in the bullpen again.

Cornielle made one appearance for the Yankees during the final weekend of the season. He’ll become a minor league free agent.

New York bludgeoned Boston’s pitching staff for a whopping 18 runs on 26 hits over a pair of games without Aaron Judge (calf), completing a sweep at Yankee Stadium and punching their ticket to the AL Division Series, where they’ll face the division-rival Rays. Bellinger delivered an RBI single against reliever Erik Miller in the fourth inning before breaking this one wide open with a three-run blast off Red Sox setup specialist Garrett Whitlock in the sixth inning, giving the Yankees a comfortable 8-1 advantage at the time.

García connected on a sweeper at the bottom of the strike zone from Sonny Gray, sending a blast into the right-field seats in the fourth inning to give New York an early advantage. It looked for a while like his round-tripper was going to be one of the few runs for either side in the contest until the Yankees managed to blow the game wide open with a six-run explosion in the sixth inning.

It wasn’t an overpowering performance, but Fried kept putting zeroes on the scoreboard, carrying a shutout into the sixth inning before coughing up a solo homer to Willson Contreras with two outs in the frame. The 32-year-old lefty finished with six strikeouts and only issued one walk. He got plenty of support from New York’s as they piled up nine runs on 14 hits in the one-sided affair. He figures to take the ball at some point in the early stages of the AL Division Series against the Rays next week.

Schmidt landed on the injured list with biceps neuritis during the final week of the regular season and was a long shot to make it back during the later stages of the playoffs. The 30-year-old made just one appearance in the regular-season after making it back from last year’s Tommy John surgery.

Garcia sat out Game 1 against left-hander Payton Tolle, but will be in the lineup with Sonny Gray on the hill. Jazz Chisholm will also start at second base and bat sixth, and Trent Grisham will play center field and bat seventh. George Lombard Jr. will be the only right-handed hitter in the lineup, but there could be plenty of turnover if the Red Sox go to a left-handed reliever out of the bullpen.

Rice took Red Sox lefty reliever Erik Miller deep for a 423-foot blast to straightaway center field with two outs in the fifth inning to give New York a commanding 2-0 advantage with ace Cam Schlittler completely shutting down Boston’s offense. He supplied another insurance run with a bases-loaded RBI single to right field off lefty reliever Alec Gamboa in the seventh inning. Rice had a chance to do even more damage when he came to the plate with the bases loaded again in the ensuing frame, and he didn’t waste it, crushing a grand slam to center field off righty Brayan Bello to complete the multi-homer performance. The Cohasset, Massachusetts native recorded four batted balls with exit velocities over 100 mph as the Yankees cruised to a comfortable win without injured franchise cornerstone Aaron Judge (calf).