Just for fun, here’s a breakdown of the Yankees’ Game 1 lineups from their past three playoff teams: 2006, 2007, and 2009.
| 2006 | wOBA | 2007 | wOBA | 2009 | wOBA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny Damon | .362 | Johnny Damon | .340 | Derek Jeter | .390 |
| Derek Jeter | .399 | Derek Jeter | .369 | Johnny Damon | .376 |
| Bobby Abreu | .405 | Bobby Abreu | .360 | Mark Teixeira | .402 |
| Gary Sheffield | .350 | Alex Rodriguez | .449 | Alex Rodriguez | .405 |
| Jason Giambi | .407 | Jorge Posada | .417 | Hideki Matsui | .378 |
| Alex Rodriguez | .391 | Hideki Matsui | .368 | Jorge Posada | .378 |
| Hideki Matsui | .381 | Robinson Cano | .358 | Robinson Cano | .370 |
| Jorge Posada | .374 | Melky Cabrera | .317 | Nick Swisher | .375 |
| Robinson Cano | .377 | Doug Mientkiewicz | .346 | Melky Cabrera | .331 |
Now for the Game 1 starters:
| Year | Pitcher | IP | ERA | K/9 | BB/9 | HR/9 | K/BB | tRA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Chien-Ming Wang | 218.0 | 3.63 | 3.1 | 2.1 | 0.5 | 1.46 | 4.42 |
| 2007 | Chien-Ming Wang | 199.1 | 3.70 | 4.7 | 2.7 | 0.4 | 1.76 | 4.29 |
| 2009 | CC Sabathia | 230.0 | 3.37 | 7.7 | 2.6 | 0.7 | 2.94 | 3.99 |
For some pithy commentary: The lineup looks more balanced than ever, with four guys in the .370s in wOBA. The top of the lineup is stacked, though there’s no insane peak as with Jorge and Alex in 2007. That offense largely revolved around those two, so even the slightest slump in the playoffs would have meant disaster. A-Rod went 4 for 15 and Jorge went 2 for 15. That’ll about do it. Also, Sabathia figures to be a better bet than Wang to deliver in the playoffs.
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