Game 48: Here comes the cavalry (sort of)

Good news! Giancarlo Stanton, Gio Urshela, and Jonathan Loaisiga are healthy players once again. We expected the latter two to return today, but Stanton’s return is a little earlier than expected. Of course, no good news can come to the Yankees this year without something awry mixed in. As you’ll see in the forthcoming lineups, Gleyber Torres is nowhere to be found. He was off Sunday (though he pinch hit) and the team was off yesterday. What gives? His quad again, apparently. Though Aaron Boone did say he’d play if this was a playoff game. Take solace in that, I suppose, but forgive me for being doubtful about the Yankees and injuries.

The Yankees optioned Mike Ford and Miguel Andújar to make room for today’s moves. Clarke Schmidt was the other demotion from a day ago. Miggy was somewhat surprising at first considering that Tyler Wade and Thairo Estrada are redundant with a healthy Gleyber, though it now makes more sense why the Yankees kept the additional middle infielder.

Roster shuffle aside, let’s get to today’s game, the first of a pretty big series. The Yankees trail the Jays by a half game in the standings for second place in the division, so winning this series would put the Bombers ahead of Toronto in the standings. The Yanks hand the ball to wunderkind Deivi García, who pitched a gem against Toronto last week. Here is the lineup behind him and the lineup he’ll face:

News & Notes

• MLB’s postseason schedule is official. The American League will bubble in California while the National League bubbles in Texas. The World Series is going to be at the Rangers new ballpark in Arlington, Texas. Notably, there are no off days during series, so teams will need to trot out full rotations. This was unknown until now for the 30 MLB teams, apparently.
• I don’t think we’re going to see James Paxton (flexor strain) again. He still hasn’t begun to throw.
• In better news, Aaron Judge should return before the Yankees head to Boston. In other words, in this series vs. Toronto.

It’s a crisp evening here in New York, a real taste of Fall is in the air, so it’s a nice night for baseball. This one is on YES, WFAN, and WADO and the first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. EDT. Enjoy the ballgame.