Last night we saw the New York Yankees starting pitcher step on an MLB mound for the first time in 707 days. Severino came into the game out of the bullpen in the 8th inning at a very rainy Yankee Stadium, the remaining fans that were at the game stood up and cheered on Severino who has experienced countless setbacks. Luis Severino has not pitched in this decade until last night, overall he went two innings and struck out the first batter he saw in his first inning of work (8th) as the Yankees would beat the Texas Rangers 7-1 to win the series. The win also keeps the New York Yankees playoff dreams alive as they sit fourth in the ALE standings behind the Red Sox and Blue Jays.
The New York Yankees are not going up against lefties, righties or even pinch hitters, the New York Yankees are going up against time. With less than 12 games left the Yankees need all the bats and pitching they can get to what has been a very inconsistent season. With the addition of Severino the Yankees now have a solid bullpen arm of a starting pitcher who can give the inning battered bullpen pitchers a break to what has been a very long and tiring season. The Yankees can easily have Sevy go 3 or 4 innings to give other pitchers a break and if the team does make the playoffs then you would have a somewhat fully rested bullpen. Due to the season winding down along with just simply no room in the five man rotation, we will most likely not see Severino start a game in 2021.
Overall having Severino on the bullpen role is a great thing as the risk of injuries decreases to a man who is all too familiar to them. If Sevy can stay healthy then we will see him start in 2022, but the biggest thing is just to get through this season.