Now the Yankees wait.
After an American League-high 95 wins and an AL East title, their reward is a workout tonight at the Stadium and then a trip tomorrow morning. Their destination won’t be determined until after tonight’s wild-card game between the Rangers and Orioles.
“To have the best record and not know where you’re going is really strange,” Joe Girardi said.
Whatever happens tonight in Texas, the Yankees will have another workout — somewhere — tomorrow and Game 1 would be Sunday on the road.
“I’m lining up a flight to Texas right now and then will work on a train to Baltimore,” traveling secretary Ben Tuliebitz said. “It’s unusual to have this uncertainty when you’re the top seed, but we’re ready to go.”
It could be worse. Until they clinched the AL East title Wednesday night, there were even more possibilities — including a game last night in Baltimore and a wild-card game tonight.
Instead, they will play the first two games of the ALDS on the road before returning to The Bronx for at least one game. The change in the schedule was made because of MLB’s late decision to add another wild-card team, resulting in tonight’s game in Texas. Oddly, the game would have been needed even without the new format, since both wild-card teams ended the season with identical records.
“When you finish ahead of everyone else, you expect to wait around and let everyone come to you,” Derek Lowe said. “But that’s not the way it’s going to happen.”
CC Sabathia isn’t too concerned.
“The most important thing is we took care of what we needed to,” said the lefty, who will start Game 1. The format returns to normal for the ALCS, so if the Yankees advance, they would host the first two games.
“We still have some details to work out, but we obviously won’t know for sure what we’re doing until about 11:30 [tonight],” Tuliebitz said. “By then, it won’t be too hard to figure out.”