They Handed Cole Game 1 at the Trop
By Elle Elena ·
The Yankees settled the Game 1 question on Friday morning. Gerrit Cole starts Saturday at Tropicana Field against Drew Rasmussen. New York swept Boston in two Wild Card games, so the start Cole was lined up to take in a potential Game 3 never arrived. Instead he gets the first Division Series pitch under the Trop's roof, his first postseason start since Game 5 of the 2024 World Series.
Cole is 36. He missed all of 2025 after Tommy John surgery, debuted on May 22, and finished 10-9 with a 3.61 ERA, 131 strikeouts, and 127 innings across 22 starts. Those are the innings that put him back on an October board. His last outing came on September 23 against these same Rays: 5.2 innings, two earned runs, eight strikeouts, three hits, three walks, and a win. Career numbers against Tampa Bay sit at a 3.33 ERA in 23 starts, his heaviest sample against any club. In three starts against them this year he went 1-1 with a 2.50 ERA and never allowed more than three runs. MLB.com lists him at a 2.93 ERA across 12 career playoff starts in a Yankees uniform. The Trop is familiar ground, and Saturday is the first time since the World Series that the familiar ground also carries a series opener.
Rasmussen is the problem on the other side. He went 16-5 with a 2.67 ERA, 174 strikeouts, 32 walks, and 172 innings in 30 starts, and his 0.91 WHIP led qualified American League starters. He made a second straight All-Star team. Against the Yankees he is 5-2 with a 1.81 ERA in 10 starts and one relief outing, with 70 strikeouts in 59 2/3 innings. That is the line New York has to open against after scoring 18 runs in two nights without Aaron Judge. Rasmussen does not give free bases the way a Wild Card bullpen can.
Judge's status was still a Friday question. He has been out since September 16 with a strained right calf and missed the Wild Card roster while New York outscored Boston 18-2. On Friday Aaron Boone's answer was "We'll see." Judge had taken live batting practice Thursday at Yankee Stadium and was working out Friday at Steinbrenner Field and Tropicana Field. He started running this week. Boone was not sure yet about bases, noted the turf as a little bit of a factor, and left open a limited or pinch-hit role if the trainers clear him for the roster. Kevin Cash said he expects Judge in right field hitting third if New York carries him. The ALDS roster deadline is Saturday at 10 a.m. ET. Until then the Yankees are planning Game 1 with the version of the lineup that just finished Boston, and with the version of Cole that spent a full year getting back to this start.
I have always cared more about getting to a stadium early than about hanging around afterward. Batting practice, pitchers stretching, the half hour before anyone treats the night as official: that is still the part of the day I protect. If I am near a bullpen, I will burn an inning watching warmups instead of the game. On a night like Saturday, that is where you find out whether Cole's delivery looks like the September outing against Tampa Bay or like a pitcher who has been waiting through a sweep for his turn. The scouts behind home plate will be watching the same things for different reasons: shape, timing, how the first heater plays once October starts again. I always try to notice which notebooks open when a pitcher like that throws his first pitch of a series.
Game 1 is Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET, 5:30 CT, on TBS. The Rays took the American League's top seed with 98 wins and a bye. They also took the season series from New York, 7-6. Cam Schlittler is lined up for Game 2 and a potential Game 5. Max Fried and the rest of the Yankees staff will fill in behind Cole once the first night is played. None of that changes the immediate assignment. Cole gets the ball. Rasmussen answers. Judge may or may not be in the dugout when the first pitch is thrown. Friday's news was the rotation board locking into place and the captain's calf still sitting on a Saturday morning deadline.
That is the series New York flies into St. Petersburg with: their ace back on the mound for Game 1, the league's toughest regular-season WHIP waiting across the diamond, and one roster decision still open until morning.
-Elle