New York Yankees: Masahiro Tanaka's Terrific Season Is Done
Kim Klement-USATSI

The New York Yankees have announced that their ace, Masahiro Tanaka, will not be starting on Saturday against the Baltimore Orioles. 

The New York Yankees have decided to not permit Masahiro Tanaka to make a meaningless start on Saturday against the Baltimore Orioles.

New York’s ace was shut down after suffering a slight strain in his flexor mass in New York’s 11-5 win over Tampa Bay last week.

After having a catch on Tuesday, the 27-year old announced that he expects to return on Saturday, but with the Yankees out of postseason contention, there is literally no point.

Tanaka currently ranks third among American League pitchers in earned run average (3.07) and is making a serious case to win the CY Young award in his third year pitching in the United States.

However, it’s way more important for Tanaka, who pitches with a partially torn UCL in his right elbow, to have his health preserved as the only thing the Yankees can look forward to is playing spoiler against Baltimore.

Taking his spot in the rotation is 22-year old Luis Severino, coming off an outing against Toronto in which he was ejected in the second inning.

Since Aug. 2, Tanaka has maintained a 2.28 ERA across nine starts since and is 7-0 in the process.



Christian Kouroupakis covers the New York Yankees for ESNY. Interact with him and view his daily work by “liking” his facebook page and follow him on Twitter. All statistics are courtesy of Baseball Reference.com unless otherwise noted. Don’t hesitate to shoot him an email with any questions, criticisms, or concerns.