CC Sabathia should start the Wild Card game

Assuming the Yankees reach the 2018 Wild Card, I offer a secret strategy to win Bud Selig's one-game, two-teams-enter/one-team leaves, great-idea-because-it-generates-money pressure cooker. 

Generally, I'd be reluctant to share this in public because - as stated above - it's (cough) an uckingfay ecretsay, derstandunay? I trust that you will keep this on the hush-hush - no sound trucks rolling through neighborhoods - so it can flow to Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone though the usual channels, which involve drones.

Here's the plan:

Let CC start. Make it a legacy thing. He's one of the carryovers from 2009, the grand old man of the Yankees, proven veteran, a character thingy, blah-blah-blah. Have him cry during the announcement. Make it emotional. The Yankees will be bringing out the warhorse, putting a gleam in the eye of every Disney executive who ever used a Kleenex in the finale of Old Yeller. 

Bring him out. Make the fans weep. And then...

Tampa him. 

That's right. He pitches the first inning, mows them down, as usual. Then the hook. No discussion. No debate. We bring in Luis Severino for the second. 

The Rays have botched this strategy. It's not worthy of an entire season. It screws up too many starters and relievers. But for one game... it's diabolical.  

Last night, watching CC rip through the White Sox lineup in the first - a grounder, two strike outs, ten pitches - you had to wonder, why not? Especially when you knew what was coming. In three out of the next four innings, CC pitched in and out of jams. One hanging curve, one misplaced fastball, and the whole game against lowly Chicago could have flown out the window. In a one-game season, you cannot allow Sabathia to pitch more than two innings, max. 

So let him start. Let him pitch the first. As soon as the lineups are set, brimming with RH hitters, have Severino start warming. Otherwise, Sabathia shouldn't even be on the one-game roster. He's not going to come into the game as a reliever. Give him the first, with all the regular rituals of starting. Maybe, you don't even tell him what's coming. 

(Note: Nobody tells Sabathia, okay? If he asks, STFU!)

Also, an update on the Zach Britton trade.

Cody Carroll has now pitched two MLB innings for the Orioles. His ERA is 0.00. He's given up one hit.

Josh Rogers has thrown 13 innings for Baltimore's Triple A team, given up three runs for an ERA of .208.

Dillon Tate, the big prospect in the deal, has been bombed in two outings at Double A. Eleven innings, nine earned runs. Want his ERA? Do the math.

Britton has pitched in five games for the Yankees and given up three runs. Last night, he couldn't hold a two-run lead against the White Sox. Oh, well. At least we'll know better than to start him in the Wild Card.