Gerrit Cole opened the American League Division Series the way the New York Yankees hoped he would, and it may be the last time he starts in it.
Aaron Boone lined up Max Fried for Game 3 and Carlos Rodón for Game 4, which leaves Cole, the man who took the ball in Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Tropicana Field, as a bullpen option rather than having a chance for a second start.
Yankees beat writer Gary Phillips reported the plan Monday night, and Boone’s own framing made the hierarchy plain: Cole is available later in the series, with the manager adding that he hopes he never has to use him.
That is a sharp turn for a pitcher who was chosen over Rodón to open the best-of-five against Tampa Bay. Cole had been held back through the wild-card sweep of Boston, lined up for a Game 3 that never arrived, and the Yankees stayed on that track instead of handing the opener to the left-hander who had been as sharp as anyone in September.
In his first postseason start since Tommy John surgery in March 2025, the 36-year-old looked like the reason. He worked five innings, allowed five hits and one walk, struck out five, and gave up the game’s only run on a Jonathan Aranda solo homer.
The rest of the night belonged to Drew Rasmussen, who carried a no-hitter into the eighth, and to a Yankees lineup that managed one hit. Cole did not lose the game so much as fail to win a game that was almost impossible to win.
The rotation math closed the door on a return start. Cam Schlittler, the likely Cy Young favorite after a 14-6, 1.95 regular season, drew Game 2 on Monday and remains the preferred arm if the series reaches a Game 5.
Fried and Rodón take the two games at Yankee Stadium. On ordinary rest Cole could have pitched Game 4; Boone is not treating this as an ordinary series.
Rodón shut out these same Rays for eight innings late in the regular season and finished September as well as anyone in the rotation. Fried, who started in the Wild Card round, gets the ball on extra rest.
Four starters cover five possible games. The fifth arm, the one with the longest October résumé, waits in the pen.
Cole’s regular-season return was uneven in the way returns from elbow reconstruction often are. He made 22 starts and posted a 3.61 ERA, mostly looking like himself until a two-start stretch in early September in which he allowed seven home runs.
His career playoff ERA sat at 2.77 coming into this series, which is part of why Boone trusted him with Game 1 even when the matchup data favored a left-hander against a Rays lineup that struggled against southpaws.
That trust bought one start. It did not buy a second.
What it bought instead is flexibility the Yankees may not want to spend. A fully rested bullpen carried the late innings of Game 1 after Cole was lifted at the five-inning mark, a choice that reflected the off day as much as his pitch count.
If New York falls behind in this series — Tampa Bay already leads 1-0, and Game 2 was slipping away Monday night at the Trop — Boone could turn to Cole in a spot where one bad inning ends the season. The manager’s hope that he never has to is the tell. Cole is no longer being saved for a start. He is being saved, if at all, for an inning the Yankees would rather not need.
