Yankee formula for the One Game Playoff: Avoid the Railriders bullpen

This we know: No lead is safe. No game is salted away, under control, put to rest, in the can, nada - as long as a Yankee pitcher has an out to record. If our starter cannot go a solid seven, then we must ask Dellin Betances to pitch two innings, and pray it's the good Dellin, not the one who walks the bases loaded. Then, in the ninth, after all the withering Yankee swings with runners on base, we turn it over to Andrew Miller and hope he's still got fumes in the tank.

Nine innings might as well be nine days.

The AL East race ended last night with Andrew Bailey - Andrew frickin' Bailey! - in a critical matchup. We're 150 games into a season, and we're hoping for a miracle rabbit to pop out of the hat. We're two weeks from the end, and Girardi is playing his bullpen like the New York State Lottery - he's buying a ticket and hoping for the best. The 2015 Yankee bullpen was supposed to be Brian Cashman's crowning achievement. He watched KC year go to the 2014 World Series, and he built the Yankees with the same blue print. Remember the staggering wealth of bullpen arms? Remember how David Carpenter was supposed to be Mr. Seventh Inning. Remember Jacob Lindgren, the great top draft pick? Remember when Chasen Shreve was a steal? Remember when Chris Martin wasn't the poor schmuck who got eaten by Gwyneth Paltrow? And Diego Moreno - remember him, the piece of driftwood we once obtained for AJ Burnett - AJ frickin Burnett! - who threw his arm out after pitching five innings against Texas - five frickin innings! - in a game where we scored 21? So last night, it's our last gasp, the season on the line, and it Caleb Cotham, James Pazos and Jerry Mathers as the Beaver.

No lead is safe. Wait. Want a formula for the One Game? Score 21 runs. Have it be one of those games that happens every blue moon, where Stephen Drew hits two home runs and wins himself another month of sub-.200 at bats. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Another year, another Yankee ending that involves falling into a ditch and being covered by scoops of dirt. Well, we do have the One Game, I guess. All we have to do is follow the formula.