Why the Yankees didn’t change their lineup for do-or-die ALDS Game 3

With his Yankees facing a 2-0 deficit in the ALDS and on the brink of elimination, Aaron Boone left the door open to changing his lineup for Game 3 when he spoke to reporters during Monday’s off day.

On Tuesday, however, he rolled out the same unit that totaled eight runs in the first two games of the series, the majority of which came in garbage time against the lower-leverage arms in the Blue Jays’ bullpen. That lineup looked as such:

• CF Trent Grisham (LHH)
• RF Aaron Judge
• LF Cody Bellinger (LHH)
• 1B Ben Rice (LHH)
• DH Giancarlo Stanton
• 2B Jazz Chisholm Jr. (LHH)
• 3B Ryan McMahon (LHH)
• SS Anthony Volpe
• C Austin Wells (LHH)

“I just believe in that group,” Boone said pregame with the Yankees set to face Blue Jays right-hander Shane Bieber.

Boone said that he considers Bieber to be a pitcher with neutral splits, which has been true throughout the 2020 Cy Young winner’s career. However, Bieber had drastic reverse splits over a seven-start sample this season after returning from Tommy John surgery. Part of that had to do with his implementation of a new changeup, which made him more effective against lefties.

Left-handed hitters had a .434 OPS against Bieber, while right-handed hitters had a .936 OPS against him.

With that in mind, Boone said he once again considered starting the right-handed Paul Goldschmidt over the left-handed Rice, though the manager downplayed the former’s success against Bieber over a small sample.

Goldschmidt entered the game 3-for-6 against Bieber, but Boone wanted the “threat” of Rice’s ability to “really wreck the game” with his power.

Boone also wanted to have Goldschmidt and fellow righty swinger Amed Rosario available off the bench for Toronto’s left-handed relievers.

“I just feel like this is our lineup that has a chance to do the most damage against [Bieber] while also having my right-handed guys that are real threats for their lefty specialists,” the skipper explained.

Boone could have also removed Grisham from the leadoff spot, as the center fielder entered Game 3 with a .150/.227/.200 slash line this postseason following a career year at the plate.

However, Boone remained confident in Grisham when he spoke on Monday.

“That’s the nature of the playoffs and small sample. I trust Trent Grisham and his at-bat quality,” Boone said. “It’s just a few games, and we’ve had some tough matchups in there where he’s faced a couple of tough lefties.

“He’s not going to get overwhelmed by a situation. He’s going to throw a good at-bat on you. He’s going to have the ability every time he walks up there to get on base and the threat of leaving the ballpark.”