Yankees working to stave off rust with five-day ALDS layoff

A year before all of the outrage and debate over rest versus rust for teams that got byes into the ALDS, the Yankees survived the five days off.In the inaugural season of the new playoffs format in 2022, the Yankees avoided the wild-card series and then fended off the Guardians in a five-game ALDS.They are one of just three teams (out of eight) that have advanced to the ALCS after getting a bye into the ALDS. So the club planned to tap back into that experience this week as it took the rest while trying to avoid the rust ahead of Game 1 of the ALDS on Saturday against the Orioles or Royals, who will duke it out in a wild-card series beginning Tuesday. “We’ll do our best to prioritize taking advantage of the rest that I’m sure a number of guys at this time of year will benefit from,” manager Aaron Boone said Sunday.

“But also trying to make sure we keep that mental edge and keep guys as sharp as we possibly can with live looks and things like that.Try and strike that balance and then tee it up on Saturday.” The Yankees took Monday fully off but are scheduled to hold workouts Tuesday through Friday — with Wednesday and Thursday expected to be the heaviest days, likely to include some sort of simulated games or at least live at-bats against Yankees pitchers and/or minor leaguers. Boone also pointed to there being more tools that the Yankees have at their disposal — like the Trajekt pitching machine, which mimics the pitches of active MLB pitchers — to help them stay sharp. “Hopefully [we] prepare in a great way to go out and win a series,” Boone said.

“That’s where the focus will be, but it’s also a chance to catch your breath a little bit and guys to get a little break.But also understanding the task at hand in front of us.

We’ll be really focused on that and more and more each day as the week unfolds.” In a vacuum, there are obvious advantages to avoiding the wild-card series.Besides avoiding a short series where anything can...