AL DIVISION SERIES: YANKEES VS RAYS

October 2, 2026

Aaron Boone

Tropicana Field

New York Yankees

Workout Day Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with Aaron.

Q. Aaron, when you look at this Rays team, what are some of the challenges in trying to game plan for this series?

AARON BOONE: They pitch well. They'll have different looks out of the bullpen that they're going to give you. They pitch really well in this building, obviously, and target guys that kind of fit from a profile standpoint, fit this building well.

They're athletic, especially defensively. They can really go get the ball and cover up plays, and that athleticism translates on the other side of the ball, too. They put the ball in play, they can run. They've pull the envelope. You've got to take care of the ball against them.

They'll keep forcing it, so there's outs to be had there, and they'll take chances on the bases. So you've got to -- if you're clean there, there's some outs to be had. But they do a lot of things really well. It's been impressive what they've been able to do from the start of the year to the finish.

They haven't had many lulls in the season, and those handful of weeks where they've struggled a little bit, they've answered it really well. So it's a confident group, an athletic group, and one we obviously have to be at our best to have a chance to win.

Q. Do you have an update on Aaron Judge? Do you anticipate him being a part of this?

AARON BOONE: We'll see. He'll be working out today. He hit again live yesterday at Yankees stadium. He's doing more today, I think, over at GMS and here. We'll make those calls probably later tonight.

Q. Aaron, has he run the bases yet?

AARON BOONE: I don't know if he's run the bases. He started running.

Q. Do you need to see him run the bases?

AARON BOONE: No, sometimes running the bases, they replicate things in other ways. The trainers will obviously play a big part in this. As the day unfolds, we'll see where we're at and what it potentially looks like for the series.

Q. With your decision on Gerrit for Game 1, how much discussion did you have between Gerrit and Rodón and what led you to pick Gerrit?

AARON BOONE: Yeah, I mean, Carlos was in the mix for every game in the Wild Card series, too. So, I mean, that's just how good we feel about where Carlos is with our four guys that we're obviously going to lean on here in the postseason.

So, yeah, I mean, it was a conversation. But, you know, an easy one for me once Gerrit didn't pitch in that Wild Card, was lined up here. We like him here. Like him, obviously, kicking off the series for us and excited to give him the ball.

But Carlos could probably slide in in one of the home games.

Q. To kind of follow on that, in the time where a lot of teams are using the opener, even Game 1 or 2, or just trying to figure out how they're getting through a playoff series, what does it do for you? How does it set you up to have four guys that you feel good about that you can slide in in virtually any order?

AARON BOONE: I mean, it's great. I love it. It's probably the strength of our team right now is those guys and what they bring to the table every day. So there's a lot of ways to do it. Every year's a little bit different. There's a lot of teams that are very successful in those games where you have the runway to do that.

Obviously, our avenue is leaning on our starting pitchers and those guys doing well.

So I'm excited every day we give those guys the ball and feel like we have a great chance when we do.

Q. You said you like Cole here. Specifically, why do you guys like Gerrit here?

AARON BOONE: I like Gerrit -- do you mean here? Yeah, I like him anywhere. Certainly, the Trop plays a different kind of way. I think it sets up well for Gerrit. That said, I feel like it does for a few of our guys.

But, no, it was more just we like him here. I feel like he's always thrown the ball really well here. Not that that's everything. But I'm excited to give the ball to Gerrit Cole in a Game 1 scenario.

Q. How much did you guys consider going with Rodón, considering he's a lefty and the Rays this year haven't put up good numbers against lefties? I know you said he was in the mix.

AARON BOONE: Carlos is probably throwing Game 3 or 4 for us.

Carlos has been a consideration, literally, Game 1 of the Wild Card, 2 of the Wild Card, potentially Game 3, and every game moving forward. So it's one of those difficult decisions we have, one of those good difficult decisions we have because we have four guys that are very high end.

So it's at least a conversation every time.

Q. What are you thinking about for Weathers for this series and how many relievers -- how many pitchers are you thinking of carrying?

AARON BOONE: We haven't decided that yet. Everyone's obviously just coming out of a series. Now everyone -- we'll let people weigh in and pound the table for certain things or kind of flush out the conversations, and then we'll make a decision on which way we're going to go. Whether it's 10, 11, 12 pitchers.

I'm not sure yet. In my mind, I have kind of what I'm thinking, but want to let everyone have their voice, too.

Q. The fact that this is turf, how much does that play into the Judge decision?

AARON BOONE: It plays into it a little bit. It's just as far as him and the field, potentially. But we're looking at the days and so it's more is he going to be available at some point in this series, potentially, as a player? That's what we're kind of weighing and then seeing where he's at now these last few days having taken live BP.

We'll see how today goes.

Q. So it's possible it could be a pinch-hit option for the first couple games and see what you have later?

AARON BOONE: We'll see, yeah.

Q. Going back to the question about Tampa struggling against lefties, are those numbers that you consider at all? Do you pay attention to them? What goes into that process?

AARON BOONE: Yeah, but we're going to run our four starters out at them, and two of those are lefties. It factors in, but they also play the platoon game heavily, too. I mean, we've got four starters. You're going to see them. How we line them up is a different conversation.

Q. What goes into the process of using four starters instead of three with the schedule and how it aligns?

AARON BOONE: The confidence we have in all four. Again, if we make a deep run in this, wanting that continuity of having those guys pitching regularly. But really, really the confidence we have in all four guys being able to go and deliver us a big-time outing.

Q. And then with Giancarlo, is he on the roster?

AARON BOONE: We haven't decided that yet.

Q. You said we're going to see the four starters. Are we going to see them all start? It sounds like Rodón is getting one of 3 or 4.

AARON BOONE: Yeah, you always reserve the right to change course as you go through the series. My plan is he will be Game 3 or 4.

Q. The defense, by and large, has been pretty good. There were one or two mishaps on bunts. They have the most bunts in the league and the most bunt hits. Have you paid attention to bunt defense over the last days or weeks, thinking about the series?

AARON BOONE: Probably. I don't know if people -- I don't know if there's teams out there that during the season work on bunts more. So, you know, obviously the postseason and with off days leading into a series, it allows you to work on a team defense. Whereas at different times during the season, that can be a challenge.

So we replicated a lot of stuff the day before the Red Sox series. We'll do a team defense ahead of our individual defensive stuff out there today. So obviously, it's an area we want to play really clean in, especially against a team that you know is going to play that kind of game when they get their opportunities.

Q. Do you expect to have Carlos out of the bullpen in the first few games at all as an option?

AARON BOONE: We'll see.

Q. You said Judge was doing stuff at GMS? Is that better facilities?

AARON BOONE: We had some guys go over there early and do some things. But obviously, having the big workout here.

Q. Weathers, you expect him to be available on the Roster?

AARON BOONE: Yes, I expect him to be available. We have not made a decision on the roster yet. We'll have our decisions on the rosters tonight, okay? Might be 10 pitchers, might be 11, might be 12. Haven't decided yet. Haven't sat down and talked in the room like this is what we're doing. Everyone's weighing in right now, okay? Everyone's in play.

Q. Since you so comprehensively answered all of the remaining roster questions --

AARON BOONE: Yes.

Q. -- can you go through the plane issues that you guys had getting in here yesterday? You were supposed to leave, what, 2:00 or so and didn't get to the hotel until after midnight?

AARON BOONE: Yeah. It was -- hey, first world problems. Like, I mean, people got to deal with a lot worse stuff than we dealt with yesterday. And I felt like, first and foremost, pleased with how everyone handled it. That's not a fun thing to go through when I got to the airport at 2:30. We end up getting on the bus to switch airports at, what, 8-something? I think we took off closer to 10. Landed closer to 1. So a little after 1 getting in.

But off day today. Again, everyone was in good spirits, handled it well. That's life sometimes. Throws you a wrinkle and we handled it.

Q. What happened? Did you have to change planes?

AARON BOONE: Yeah, hydraulics issue. Didn't have a tall enough ladder to fix it. I offered to go get my ladder at home. Declined.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Aaron. Appreciate it.

Q. When you have a long delay like that, what do you do with the time? How do you pass it?

AARON BOONE: Let's see. I mean, guys are playing cards on the plane. You know, guys are doing some of their prep work for the series. Eventually, it got to 8:00 so the Braves and Phillies were on. The Browns and the Steelers were on. You eat, you ask the people working on it, are they doing the right things? Banter, and have some fun with the flight attendants, telling them let's step it up a little bit. Let's get it going. You know, all those things. Everyone handled it well. It was fine. Susan and Mare were there on the move. No, Mare wasn't. Susan was there. She was good.

Q. I wasn't.

AARON BOONE: But I couldn't tell. That's part of it. I walked through the fuselage at some point just to see how spirits were. Everyone seemed fine. They had the AC going for the most part. It was a beautiful night out in Westchester. It was great.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Aaron. Appreciate it.