The New York Yankees entered Thursday tied with the Toronto Blue Jays in the win column. However, the Blue Jays own the tiebreaker over the Yankees.
The Yankees and Blue Jays are tied for the most wins in the American League, and the winner gets a first-round bye in the postseason, foregoing a best-of-three wild card series. There is some debate about whether the bye actually helps a team. Aaron Boone made it clear which side of the fence he stands on.
“I’ll take the bye all day long. It’s winning a series, essentially without having to play in one,” Boone said in a clip posted by SNY. “Anything can happen in the postseason, but anything could happen in the best-of-three in the wild card. I don’t think either is saying, ‘That team is going to win it all.’ We’ve seen teams come out of the wild card situation and run the table. We’ve (also) seen it the other way. If you’re asking me if I get to choose one or the other, I’ll take the bye.”
The argument against the bye is that a team can get cold while it rest and then face a team that just played a series to stay alive, coming in hot and ready to go.
On the other hand, the bye gives teams a break from the normal grind of a baseball season, allowing players to get some rest before the final stretch. Last season, three out of the four teams that earned a bye advanced to the Championship Series. The Philadelphia Phillies were the only team to have a bye and not advance, losing to the red-hot New York Mets.
The Yankees had a bye and won the American League last season. Boone has seen how his team responded after the bye, likely playing into his desire to have the bye.
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