Aaron Boone Made the Right Call By Pulling Masahiro Tanaka During His Excellent Game 1 Outing

When a manager has probably the best bullpen in baseball, he's not really gambling by pulling his starting pitcher a little sooner than normal.

Aaron Boone decided to remove Masahiro Tanaka from Game 1 of the ALCS after six innings of shutout, one-hit ball and just 68 pitches.

While some were critical of Boone's decision to relieve the starter who was cruising so seamlessly through the Astros' order, the Yankees' skipper made the right call in taking out Tanaka.

The Yankees were already in a pretty good situation with the numbers Gleyber Torres put up in Game 1, and with the best bullpen in the sport, handing the game over to the relievers is a blessing, not a hazard.

Allowing Adam Ottavino to come in and get some work, before turning the ball over to the recently-activated Zack Britton and young arm in Jonathan Loaisiga, the Yankees were able to spread the workload out and managed to walk away with a shutout victory.

Tanaka had been dicing up Astros hitters, locating his splitter with pinpoint accuracy. But he was approaching his third time through the order, the time in which pitchers struggle most. The Yankees were first-hand witnesses to that when they got after Zack Greinke in the sixth inning, so instead of running that risk with Tanaka, they opted to turn it over to the 'pen.

Don't worry about Tanaka, however. He pitches on another level in the postseason and he'll almost certainly make another start in this series. While some would certainly have loved to see the Yankees' ace keep going, playing it safe when it comes to October is often the best route to go. And based on the final scorecard, I'd say Boone's judgement was fair here.