NEW YORK – While paranoid fans fret about history, the Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees are prepared to play a series that will epitomize modern baseball.
There shouldn't be a ceremonial first pitch before Game 1. There should be a weigh-in.
Starting Friday night, the Bomba Squad will face the Bronx Bombers in a pitcher-punishing playoff series, and two young, open-minded managers will use relievers the way plumbers use putty. The phrase "pitching change" is about to become redundant.
Never before have two 100-win teams met in baseball's playoffs while wielding so much power and so little pitching certainty. After his 42nd trip to the mound, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli might get an endorsement deal with FitBit.
This series might look like nothing we have ever seen before, while being played in one of the most familiar prosceniums in sports. The Yankees have set a traditional rotation for the first three games but promise to rely heavily on their bullpen. The Twins have named a starter only for Game 1, and have contingency plans for how they will use their theoretical second starter, Jake Odorizzi.
The Twins could use an opener. They could pull a starter early so he is available later in the series. They could use two "bullpen games," meaning relievers will start and finish the game.
A dozen Twins pitchers will try to survive a frightening lineup in an atmosphere unlike any other. I've been covering postseason games in one Yankee Stadium or another since 1995. There are louder places. There are better ballparks. There is nothing like the mystical aura surrounding a big game at what locals call "the Stadium," in a city that believes it is the center of the universe.
"First thing that comes to mind is electric," Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge said. "But that doesn't even define it. Just from the pregame on you can feel it. It's a little brisk here. The weather is cooling off. All of a sudden, you're lining up for the national anthem and you look out into the stands and you can't even hear the last half of the anthem because the fans start getting crazy and loud.
