Yankees' immediate challenge as they await opponent for ALDS: Trying to stay sharp

The Yankees went 5-2 against the Royals this season and 5-8 against the Orioles.

But, no, honestly, Aaron Boone said Tuesday afternoon, he doesn’t have a rooting interest in that series.

The winner of the best-of-three American League Wild Card Series between Baltimore and Kansas City opens the best-of-five Division Series against the Yankees Saturday at the Stadium. 

The Royals won Game 1, 1-0, in Baltimore on Tuesday afternoon.

“I really don’t,” Boone said before his team went through a full workout at the Stadium. “I’m always careful what you wish for. I tell that to coaches all the time. It’s like, we’re watching a game, we may be in June watching a game, and you’re watching a division rival play another team and you’re pulling for the other team, and I’m like, ‘Be careful what you wish for, that team may knock us out.’ So I’ve always just been like, let it play out, and we’ll prepare as best we can for whoever comes our way. We know that anyone in the playoffs right now is going to be a challenge.”

The Yankees' more immediate challenge, of course, will be keeping sharp before Saturday’s Game 1, in which they will have ace Gerrit Cole on the mound.

The club’s workout Tuesday included infield work, PFPs (pitchers' fielding practice), and batting practice, as well as several live BP sessions. Wednesday and Thursday the team plans workouts that will include simulated games.

“These are important days for us,” Boone said. “Obviously, going out and winning our division and earning a bye, gives us that ability to (get) that rest after a long season, these are important days for us where I want our guys walking in with an edge. There’s a lot to accomplish, a lot to get done.”

The Yankees had a similarly length layoff in 2022 – when they most recently won the division – and did not appear rusty in what would be a five-game victory over the Guardians in the Division Series (the Yankees were then run over in four straight games by the Astros in the ALCS).

But, whether it’s causal or not, division winners with a long layoff in recent years haven’t fared as well in the first round, last year most dramatically when three teams who won at least 100 games – the Orioles, Dodgers and Atlanta – each lost in the first round.

“It’s a little bit tougher,” Alex Verdugo said Sunday of the layoff. “It’s kind of like another All-Star break, so we’re just going to have to do a good job … the next couple days before the ALDS. We have to make sure our workouts are keeping the same energy and having some intensity to it.”

Boone said staying focused is a message given to the team, “going back to the first day of spring training.”

“Making sure we walk through in those doors with an edge to us every day and want to make sure through these few days of preparation we have that level of edge,” Boone continued. “ Understanding these are important days for us to make sure we’re prepared, ready, tight in that room. So we’ll kind of hammer that with these guys, but that’s also who they are, too. They know what’s at stake and they know where we are in the season and what we have an opportunity to do. Confident we’ll be focused here and hopefully have a few good days leading into Saturday.”

Fond memories of Rose

Boone’s father, Bob, was a catcher on the 1980 Phillies, who won the World Series, a team that featured, among others, Pete Rose. Rose, the sport’s all-time hits leader, died Monday at the age of 83.

“That hit hard last night,” Boone said upon hearing the news.

Boone said he texted Pete Rose Jr., with whom he played with briefly in the majors, Monday night and that he had been in contact regularly with his father over the years.

“Every now and then I would talk to him probably once or twice a year,” Boone said. “Sad day for baseball, of course, but for me personally because, even going back to my childhood, he was an important figure for my family.”