The New York Yankees finally revealed their 26-man roster to face the tough Cleveland Guardians in the American League Championship Series. The best-of-seven matchup will start on Monday in the Bronx.
The roster does not include recovering lefty Nestor Cortes, as he needs more time to leave behind a left elbow flexor strain. It does have Anthony Rizzo, who did beat a couple of finger fractures to be included, and right-hander Marcus Stroman, who was left out of the AL Division Series roster.
Leaving out a $37 million star for a postseason series is always tough, but the Yankees didn’t really need Stroman in the Division Series against the Kansas City Royals. They might need his innings against the Guardians, though, which is why they included him this time around.
The Yankees’ righty has been struggling for a while
Stroman’s 4.31 ERA in 154.2 innings this year tells the story of an acceptable year, but far from his best version. The big problem, and the reason why he was left off the roster for the past series, is that he is trending in the wrong direction or at least was in his final few regular season outings.
Stroman had a 5.13 ERA in June, a 5.50 mark in July, and a 4.56 one in August. That is nothing compared to his horrible September (8.80 ERA), so as you can see, he has been mediocre for a while.
With more innings to cover and no off days from Thursday to Saturday (three straight games in Cleveland), the Yankees made the call to include Stroman given the fact Cortes is not fully over his injury.
If Nasty Nestor recovers in time for the World Series and the Yankees make it there, he will probably be in contention for a roster spot and Stroman could lose his spot if he doesn’t impress in the ALCS. For now, however, the Yanks are giving him a chance to redeem himself in the postseason.
