Aaron Boone's Latest Interview Reveals Yankees' Incredibly Unorthodox Pitching Plan for Playoffs

Save for James Paxton, no one is spared. Not even Masahiro Tanaka.

According to Yankees skipper Aaron Boone's most recent statements on the matter, New York will treat Paxton as their ace come playoff time, using him as a traditional starter who'll lock horns with their opponent's best piece for, ideally, six or seven innings.

Beyond that? It's anyone's guess what we'll see.

Boone plans to piggyback starters and head to the bullpen early and often, and that could mean a quick trigger on Tanaka, ostensibly one of the team's top playoff options and performers.

The Yankees are being wise and calculated here; after all, it's no secret they have a patchwork pitching rotation, predicated on Domingo German in short spurts, Luis Severino returning, and Tanaka coming up with his A-Game when the lights are brightest.

Beyond that best-case scenario, of course, their greatest strength is their world-class bullpen, which Boone has no plans to ignore come October. The only surprising thing here isn't that the team will follow new, modern guidelines in their quest for a 28th World Series title.

It's how emphasized those guidelines will be, dominating the narrative throughout the march. If the Yankees win this World Series, it'll be because of their innovation on the mound, not in spite of their deficiencies.