With the season on the line, the Yankees have indeed made some lineup changes.
But they might not be the ones fans wanted or expected.
Aaron Boone has slotted Jazz Chisholm as the cleanup hitter, moving Giancarlo Stanton — the team’s hottest hitter — down to the fifth spot for Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday night.
Austin Wells has also been reinserted as the starting catcher, hitting eighth in the order.
Aaron Judge, whose struggles have been well-publicized all postseason, is still firmly in the third spot.
Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
The Dodgers, up 3-0 in the series, are throwing a “Johnny Wholestaff” game against the Yankees, using righty reliever Ben Casparius as their opener.
“Really just trying to be a little more balanced with them doing a bullpen day,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of the lineup moves. “And this being more in line with what I’ve done all year, like say we’re facing a right-handed pitcher, this is kinda the rollout.”
In the end, Boone said, it was about trying to expose matchups against the Dodgers.
Boone also said he contemplated moving Judge up to the leadoff spot, but was hesitant to do so with Gleyber Torres thriving atop the lineup.