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By Jon Paul Hoornstra
Contributing Sports Writer
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The New York Yankees decided to include 11 pitchers when they released their roster for the American League Division Series on Saturday. Notably absent: Marcus Stroman, who started 29 games for New York in the regular season, and ranked third on the staff in starts and innings pitched (154.2).
Stroman's 4.31 earned-run average was the highest among the Yankees' regular rotation members. In the best-of-five Division Series, the Yankees can get away with using three starting pitchers: Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil, Carlos Rodón, and Clarke Schmidt.
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An elbow injury will sideline left-hander Nestor Cortes for the duration of the series. He would have been a frontrunner to start Game 3. Even still, there was no room for Stroman on the Yankees' 26-man roster for the series against the Royals.
Teams can reset their roster after each postseason round.
Stroman, 33, went 10-9 in his first season after signing a two-year, $37 million contract with the Yankees in January.
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The right-hander entered September with a 10-6 record and a 3.81 ERA but lost all three of his starts in the final month of the season. He saw his ERA balloon with two disastrous outings — a 3.2-inning, 5-run start in Texas on Sept. 4 and a 3.1-inning, 6-run outing against the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 25.
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A two-time All-Star, Stroman has made five postseason starts in his career, but none since the 2016 American League Championship Series, which his Toronto Blue Jays lost to the Cleveland Guardians.
If the Yankees' pitching staff for the series has a familiar look, perhaps it's because all of them were in the organization a year ago with the exception of Luke Weaver.
Stroman's September struggles make his exclusion hardly a surprise, but the inclusion of outfielder Duke Ellis is. Ellis was promoted ahead of the organization's No. 1 prospect, Jasson Dominguez, when rosters expanded to 28 in December.
A minor league journeyman, Ellis was acquired off waivers from the Seattle Mariners in August. The Yankees are the 26-year-old's fourth organization this season. He stole 57 bases and was caught stealing just four times between Double-A and Triple-A, and figures to be used exclusively as a pinch runner off the bench.
The Royals will deploy the same roster they used to beat the Baltimore Orioles in two games in the Wild Card round.
Cole will start opposite Royals right-hander Michael Wacha in Game 1 at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.
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