Division Series – Kansas City Royals v New York Yankees – Game 1 / Elsa/GettyImages

Entering a longer series, the New York Yankees made one predictable adjustment to their roster ahead of the ALCS against the Cleveland Guardians. They also made one that very few people were probably counting on.

While Marcus Stroman won’t start any of the Yankees’ first four ALCS games, he’ll be the long relief option they’ll call upon if needed. In the Division Series, that would’ve been Luis Gil, given the condensed nature of that round. Now, the Yankees need five starter types, and went with the veteran Stroman over Cody Poteet, who allowed one run on six hits in six innings against the Guardians back in April.

Against the odds, Anthony Rizzo is also returning to active duty just two weeks after suffering multiple finger fractures on a hit-by-pitch during the season’s second-to-last game.

At the time, it was described as a pain tolerance issue, and Rizzo felt like an essential piece of the Yankees’ September surge (at least defensively, serving as a blanket for Jazz Chisholm and others). Somehow, some way, Oswaldo Cabrera and Jon Berti replicated his defense in the ALDS and provided some nice offensive sparks. Will Rizzo return to starting duty, or will he be a late-inning defensive replacement, where he can still provide significant value, even if he can’t grip a bat?

Yankees ALCS Roster vs. Guardians: Anthony Rizzo, Marcus Stroman return

Rizzo and Stroman being elevated means the Yankees were forced to say goodbye to two players they carried during the shorter sprint of the ALDS. That means … pinch runner Duke Ellis, thank you for your brief appearance during Game 4 in relief of Giancarlo Stanton. That was essentially the only usage of the Yankees’ bench in the entire series, outside of the first base rotation. Ben Rice also missed the cut moving forward, which makes sense, given Rizzo’s return and Cabrera and Berti proving themselves more than capable at first in his wake.

Additionally, Mark Leiter Jr. being unable to crack the roster of either of the Yankees’ two playoff rounds, while the objectively correct call, is a massive trade deadline bummer, especially with Jack Flaherty currently twirling shutouts in LA.

Though Nestor Cortes Jr. tried to increase the intensity of his rehab ahead of this round, he wasn’t elevated to the roster, either. Presumably, he could be an option to replace Tim Mayza if the Yankees advance to the World Series, but for now, Rizzo represented all the fresh-off-the-bench risk the Yanks were willing to absorb into their playoff path.

Yankees Lineup for ALCS Game 1 vs. Cleveland Guardians

The Yankees opted out of making significant changes … beyond Rizzo starting and batting eighth.

Beyond that, they’ll go to war with Alex Verdugo in left (batting ninth) and Austin Wells protecting Aaron Judge in the cleanup spot, despite a September-long slump.

Baseball! First pitch is 7:38 PM EST from the Bronx.