ARLINGTON, Texas — The past three times the Yankees made the postseason, they got there as a wild card, and so they went straight from the regular season into the playoffs.
That’s not the case this year.
Winning the AL East for the first time since 2012 allows the Yankees avoid the one-game drama of the wild-card game, but also presents another challenge: What do you do with the longest stretch of time off since the All-Star break?
From a baseball standpoint, the plan is fairly simple.
The team will be off Monday and have a voluntary workout Tuesday before full-team workouts Wednesday and Thursday leading up to Game 1 of the ALDS against the Twins in The Bronx on Friday.
There will also be simulated games to get injured players — and those who have recently returned, like Edwin Encarnacion, Gary Sanchez and Giancarlo Stanton — some at-bats.
“We have the unusual circumstance of having — it feels unusual anyway — a lot of time between now and Game 1,’’ general manager Brian Cashman said Sunday.
But any danger of the Yankees picking up some rust during the layoff is offset by their desire to take a break.
“It’s a little bit of a layoff,’’ Aaron Boone said. “I don’t worry about it too much. Hopefully, it’s something — that rest— that serves us well.”
They’ll also use the time to finalize their roster, waiting to see how some players respond to treatments to see if they’re healthy enough to play.
The players are ready for the light schedule.
“I’ll treat it like the days off in the All-Star break,’’ Zack Britton said. “In our situation, it should benefit us. A lot of times, you just want to roll with it and keep going. But the rest is gonna be good because we’ve got guys trying to get healthy and we want to play deep into the playoffs.”
There won’t be all that much down time, since pitchers still need to throw and many players figure to have only one full day away from the stadium.
“I might take Monday off, but I’m gonna get to the field the next few days and do some hitting and anything I can to stay ready,’’ Aaron Judge said. “It’s nice to have that luxury. This team will be ready.”
And since most of them have postseason experience, there’s not a ton of added nerves awaiting the start of the series.
“A lot of us have been here before,’’ Gleyber Torres said. “I’m one of the younger players and even I’ve done it, so we’re looking forward to starting it.”
The Yankees were able to win their wild-card games in each of the previous two seasons. After beating the Indians in the ALDS in 2017, they lost to Houston. And a year ago, they fell to the Red Sox in four games in the ALDS.
“We’re gonna look back hopefully and say these four days off were really good for us,’’ Britton said. “The wild-card game is so stressful. You win and you feel great, but then you’ve got to get on a plane. Plus, what did you have to do to win that game? How many pitchers did you use?”
Instead, they used the final week of the season to set up their playoff rotation — and hoping players get as close to 100 percent as possible.“We’re playing a team in the same circumstance, so both teams could be rusty and have games to make up for it,’’ Britton said of the series against the AL Central champions. “There’s no tomorrow with a wild-card game.”
And they’re not stressing about much going forward.
“This is what we fought all year for,’’ Brett Gardner said of the mini-break and home-field advantage in the first round. “We’ve all been through a lot, so to get this time off will serve us well.”
That home-field advantage will end if Houston and the Yankees meet in the ALCS, since the Astros finished with a better record. Britton isn’t overly concerned about that, either.
“A few of us have said, ‘If we want to get to where we want to get to, we’re gonna have to beat somebody at their home field,’ ’’ Britton said. “We’re plenty capable. If we’re using not having home field throughout the playoffs as a crutch, then we’re in trouble. This team is good enough to beat anybody, anywhere. This team has been good dealing with stuff all year, so I don’t think anything will get in our way now.”