It's gotta be Masahiro

Lately, there's been talk of J.A. Happ - or even the ghost of Luis Severino - starting the one-game season Wild Card. 

What. A. Crock. 

If the juju gods have learned us anything, it is that Masahiro Tanaka needs to pitch the big games. We might have hotter pitchers. But we have no one better. If Tanaka doesn't have it, we will empty the bullpen and hope for a slugfest. But the truth is, if Tanaka doesn't have it, we won't last long in the month of October. 

Check out these stats since the All-Star break:

Not much inspires hope, eh? (Maybe Chad Green's return to form does.) But there we have Tanaka, once again burnishing his reputation as a warrior of the home stretch. Last night, he blew away sad, hapless Toronto, which doesn't even want to subject its top prospects to such a disillusioned clubhouse. 

Trouble is, the rest of the weekend is Antiques Roadshow - CC Sabathia and Lance Lynn - both human bullpen hurricane warnings. (And for now, the Yankees haven't set their starters against Boston - with Eovaldi and Price going in the first two against us.) 

After 140 games, the Yankees are waterlogged with questions. We still don't know who closes, who bats second, who plays left field, or on which coast the game will take place. But dammit, we have our Wild Card starter. This is one call Boone better not blow.