Here’s why I expect Ben Rice to start for Yankees tonight in Wild Card Series

At this hour an army of scientists, dressed in white lab coats, are hunkered in the Yankee Stadium offices, pouring over biomechanical data regarding Ben Rice’s swing path, and endeavoring a deep dive into Paul Goldschmidt’s REM sleep over the past nine days.

They are preparing Aaron Boone’s orders for tonight’s lineup, delivered with the usual threat to follow their numbers … or else.

Just kidding.

Boone and bench coach Brad Ausmus, two humans, discussed and wrote the lineup before leaving the ballpark last night, as they always do. In case you haven’t yet heard, this is how the Yankees make decisions.

I haven’t seen tonight’s lineup, but amid all the chatter about first base and catcher, I fully expect the Yankees to start Rice at first in Game 3, Austin Wells at catcher and use Goldschmidt off the bench.

In Game 1, Boone opted for a righty-heavy lineup against Boston’s lefty ace Garrett Crochet. In a few cases, the manager actually went against what the team’s analytics department wanted. That’s a fact.

A game plan against Crochet is different from a game plan against another pitcher, regardless of handedness.

With their season on the line tonight, the Yankees are facing rookie left-hander Connelly Early. After Game 2 Boone would only reveal that he will start Jazz Chisholm Jr. against Early. He left first base and catcher open (why tell Alex Cora before he needs to know, right?).

But he said this:

“It’s not just, it’s a lefty. It’s, what lefty? Is that guy going to be out there for six or seven innings? I want to leverage a spot for whoever my bench guys are to have a good matchup, not three bad matchups that I can guarantee. All of these things factor into it.”

An argument for starting Rice against Early tonight — in addition to the fact that he’s been smoking balls all over Yankee Stadium — is that the Red Sox have five left-handers in their bullpen. And that’s assuming that Crochet won’t give them an inning. It might be six lefties.

This means that if Boone starts Goldschmidt with the intent to swap in Rice after Early leaves (which could be … early), he might be waiting all night. Cora can counter with one lefty reliever after another. Might as well just start Rice.

As for catcher, that does not seem in question, and it has little to do with Wells’ game-winning hit last night. Wells is a superior game-caller, and that’s hugely important in the playoffs, not to mention when working with a rookie in Cam Schlittler.

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