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Yankees playoff schedule starts with ALDS on Saturday, October 5
The Yankees tied the bow on their successful 2024 regular season by nailing down the American League East division crown on Thursday night. The Orioles had postponed the party by winning on back-to-back days, but with the magic number of this race down to one before the first pitch of the series, Baltimore had no margin for error. Ace Corbin Burnes dueled valiantly with New York counterpart Gerrit Cole, allowing just a solo shot to Giancarlo Stanton. Then, the Orioles’ wayward bullpen got involved.
By the time the dust settled, the division was won with a 10-1 triumph. As such, the Yankees can breathe easier this weekend with the Pirates coming to town. The first-round bye is already secured with the perennial nemesis Astros needing to go to the first round as the lone real consequence of their awful start to 2024. They might have stormed back to surpass Seattle, but they had the worst record of the three American League division champions. They will await the lowest seed on Tuesday in Houston for the start of the best-of-three Wild Card Series.
There’s not much left for the Yankees to play for, aside from ensuring that as many players as possible are rested, healthy, and get their reps in. The question of the No. 1 seed isn’t settled yet, but the Yankees are one game up and also hold a head-to-head tiebreaker on the AL Central-winning Guardians. So the magic number to clinch that is two — any combination of Yankees wins or Guardians losses will do it (they host Houston this weekend).
The most likely outcome has the Yankees securing that No. 1 seed. So in the American League Division Series, they would face the winner of the Wild Card Series between the No. 4 seed and No. 5 seed. Those aforementioned Orioles are already locked in at No. 4, so we could get an AL East grudge match. No. 5 will be determined this weekend with how the Royals and Tigers play against the Braves and White Sox, respectively (unless the three-games-out Twins do something absolutely shocking). Kansas City and Detroit have the same record at the moment and KC holds the tiebreaker, so stay tuned.
Below is the Yankees’ planned ALDS schedule for the best-of-five set against the Orioles, Royals, or Tigers.
In the unlikely event that Cleveland passes New York for the top seed, then the Yankees would face the winner of the No. 3 seed Astros’ Wild Card Series with the No. 6 seed Royals or Tigers. Here’s hoping that one of those plucky AL Central clubs can do the baseball world a solid and knock out the heavyweight to end Houston’s streak of seven consecutive ALCS berths.
For insight on who is in the best shape to make the Yankees’ playoff roster, check out Jake’s article from earlier this week. It was updated to accommodate Nestor Cortes’ elbow injury, which will keep him out of the ALDS action.
Otherwise, the Yankees only have a few specific decisions to make on the back ends of their roster regarding the bench and the bullpen. As for the rotation, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, and Luis Gil appear to be on track to start the first three ALDS games. Unless there’s rain, a fourth starter won’t be necessary given how the offdays line up, though Clarke Schmidt will be on the roster just in case (and in a relief role).
If the Yankees are fortunate enough to advance past the ALDS, the best-of-seven American League Championship Series will take place from Monday, October 14th through Tuesday, October 22nd if all games are required. ALCS offdays are planned for the 16th and 20th, so the No. 4 starter could enter play there. The World Series would begin on Friday, October 25th.
One step at a time, though! For now, save the dates for those ALDS games and let’s sit back to see how the cards fall in the Wild Card round.
