TORONTO — When Aaron Boone created Wednesday’s Yankees lineup, Anthony Rizzo was there.
When Boone decided who was going to sit in the team’s first meaningless game of the year after they clinched the No. 2 seed in the American League and the East division title, Rizzo was there.
And when Boone takes his customary spot at the dugout steps for the first pitch of the game against the Blue Jays, Rizzo won’t be far away.
“Rizz is helping me out today,” Boone told reporters.
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The 12-year veteran will serve essentially as the Yankees’ co-manager — a first in Boone’s five-year tenure at the helm of the Yankees.
“He helped out with the lineup today,” Boone said, “putting it together. He’s going to help in the decision-making process this game. Yeah, he’ll be up there.
Boone continued, “Once we settled on which guys we wanted to have down and things like that, we kind of worked it out together. Looking forward to having him down there and close by. Maybe I’ll stand back a little bit.”
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Rizzo was out of the lineup, as were regulars Gleyber Torres, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Giancarlo Stanton. Aaron Judge, still chasing Rogers Maris’ 61 home runs, was slated to lead off and play DH.
With it determined that their first playoff round will be in the American League Division Series, the Yankees’ final eight games of the season won’t matter — outside of Judge’s home run pursuit.
The Yankees will use the time to rest players and also put them in potential postseason situations to see how they fare.
Then the Yankees will have six days off at the end of the season. The ALDS starts Oct. 11.
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Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com.
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