The Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees decide the final post-season slot in the Bronx Wednesday night as Liam Hendricks faces Luis Severino.
Hendricks’s start will mark two firsts:
The Oakland Athletics’ decision to use righty Liam Hendriks as the opener for their AL Wild Card matchup with the Yankees on Wednesday represents a moment of historic significance for the sport in multiple ways. Most notably, it marks the first time a club will employ the relatively new and increasingly popular “opener” strategy on the postseason stage — Hendriks started eight games for Oakland in September and never even saw the third inning — and reflects the ongoing paradigm shift in pitcher usage across the league.
On top of that, Hendriks will become the first Australian-born pitcher to ever start an MLB postseason game. A native of Perth in Western Australia, Hendriks was one of only three active players from Down Under in the Majors in 2018. The vast majority of his big-league countrymen have been relievers, and though several — including Hendriks himself — have appeared in playoff games, none has ever before been tabbed for a start.
Hendricks insists on being called an “opener”, not a starter. He made eight opens and four relief appearances in September, posting a 1.38 ERA in 13 innings, walking three and striking out 10. He made an open against the Yankees on 9/4/2018, facing three batters, retiring all of them and collecting a strikeout.
The Yankees make a bit of a surprise decision to start Severino, and much of the speculation was that they would go with J.A. Happ.
“I think he’s equipped in so many ways to handle this, and perhaps most importantly, he’s equipped with amazing stuff and the ability to dominate big-league hitters because he’s such a talented pitcher,’’ Boone said of Severino, who went 19-8 with a 3.39 ERA in a staff-leading 32 starts. “I can’t wait to see him go do it.’’
That doesn’t really tell us anything. To me, the big reason is Severino’s home/road split. He went 10-2 at Yankees Stadium in 2018 with a 2.74 ERA, 9-6 with a 3.99 ERA on the road. By starting the wild card game, he avoids pitching in Boston if the Yankees win. He allowed nine runs in Boston in 10 2/3 innings this season.
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