Photo by Jeffrey Hyde from Bryan, TX, United States (CC BY-SA 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons

Yankees can’t hand Gerrit Cole the October ball on reputation alone

New York faces a critical decision regarding its postseason rotation plans. The club is being urged to reconsider simply defaulting to Gerrit Cole as their primary starter when playoff baseball begins.

Past prestige may not be enough to justify an automatic nod for October assignments. Instead of relying solely on established status, the organization is advised to base pitching roles on more than just prior pedigree.