NEW YORK — Let's say that the Twins' bats are on fire right from the start Tuesday in their American League Wild Card game against the Yankees. They string together a few hits, connect on a couple of big blows and take advantage of the talented, but largely inexperienced starter, in 23-year old Yankees righthander Luis Severino.
It still will not be time to make travel plans for the American League Division Series opener in Cleveland. Not just yet.
While it's usually a good thing to knock out a starter, especially in a playoff game, it's something entirely different when Yankees manager Joe Girardi activates his bullpen. The group is unquestionably the best in baseball and is more of a threat to the Twins playoff advancement than Severino.
"We have a lot of big-time arms and a lot of guys who can get big-time outs," said infielder Chase Headley. "It's certainly an advantage for us, but you still have to go out and get those outs."
The Yankees relief corps is headed by closer Aroldis Chapman, the only pitcher in baseball who can uncork a string of 103 miles per hour fastballs. But he's supported by righthanders Dellin Betances (whose fastball averages 98.5 miles per hour) and David Robertson, two guys talented enough to close on most other teams.
Those three would be enough for a team to boast a great bullpen. But there's more.
Chad Green (95.3 mph fastball) can pitch multiple innings. Tommy Kahnle (97.9) averaged 13.79 strikeouts per nine innings during the regular season. Chasen Shreve (92.7) is the only lefthander of the group — but who needs more than one lefty when there's so much power to choose from? And Adam Warren (93.0) was recently activated from the disabled list and can pitch more than one inning.
New York can make games five-inning affairs for their starters because of their powerful riches in the bullpen. Teams usually rejoice when they knock the starter out to get to the bullpen. It might be the other way around with the Yankees — their bullpen rejoices.
