The Yankees entered 2020 with championship aspirations and those have not changed despite the delayed start to the season and the big changes the game is undergoing this year.
But the new expanded playoff system, which was only put into practice hours before the Yankees and Nationals opened the season in Washington on Thursday, is unpopular within the Yankees’ clubhouse.
With 16 teams, instead of 10, set to make it to the postseason this year, the only incentive to win the division is to host all the games in the best series of the first round, as the wild card for one game is out, Al less for this season.
“I definitely think it’s good for the game to create more high-leverage games, if you want to call it more excitement,” Zack Britton said before the Yankees’ 9-2 loss to the Nationals on Saturday. “But he wasn’t a big fan of division winners who weren’t rewarded in any way or fashion. So I wasn’t really up for this, but I do see the benefit of increasing the playoffs and adding that to our sport. “
In years past, if the Yankees won the AL of the American League, they would advance directly to the ALDS and face either the wild card winner or the division winner with the worst record. This season, they will have to deal with a series immediately just to make it to ALDS.
“It is good for the future,” said Britton. “I felt it was a bit rushed. But the only thing I would have liked to see is the winners of the division, whether it be us or another team, who say goodbye or something that shows they won their division. ”
Chad Green said “he’s not really sure [and] a little hesitant ” about the changes.
“For more than half of the league to make the playoffs, I would like to see a reward for winning the division,” said the right-hander. “You probably need to learn more about the real details of it, [but there] it needs to be more incentive to win the division. “
And while Aaron Boone agrees with the format this year, the manager hopes it won’t spread.
“I really don’t see it,” Boone said of a 16-team playoff in a normal year. “I see something between last year and this year. But I don’t see 16 teams in a 162[-game] script. I think this year, all bets are off. ”
Green was also not excited about the new rule in which teams start additional innings with a runner at second base, joining fellow reliever Adam Ottavino, who said last week: “It just isn’t real baseball.”
“It will be different,” Green said. “A lot of guys will have to adapt to that. You have to have your things as soon as you enter there. If you start the tenth inning, the game could end very quickly. “
And he expects pitchers to change their focus.
“It’s going to be more of a mental thing than something else,” Green said. “The boys will just go in and try to attack the boys right away and see what happens. … I personally am not a big fan of that. When you play a 60 game season and every game is important, just throwing a player at second base is not the answer. “
It was shown on Friday night for the first time in Oakland in the Athletics’ victory over the Angels. Oakland’s Marcus Semien started the tenth-place finish in second place and scored in Matt Olson’s Grand Slam.
Green did not watch the game, but was aware of the result on Saturday.
“It will be different,” Green said. “A lot of guys will have to adapt to that. You have to have your things as soon as you enter there. If you start the tenth inning, the game could end very quickly. “
.
