When the Yankees entered the playoffs, their strategy seemed pretty clear: they would deploy their historic bullpen early and often. While each of their starters, Luis Severino, J.A. Happ, Masahiro Tanaka, and CC Sabathia, actually turned in quite good seasons, the Yankees’ best chance to advance past the 108-win Red Sox was to leverage their elite relievers at every turn.
Manager Aaron Boone even demonstrated a pretty firm grasp of how to use his deep relief corps earlier in the playoffs. He pulled Happ just two innings into Game One of the ALDS, and removed Tanaka after five innings in Game Two despite showing no signs of trouble.