Yankees manager Aaron Boone is doing his best Joe Maddon impression this postseason

The New York Yankees looked the part on Monday night in the Bronx, taking down the Cleveland Guardians behind a dominant outing from Carlos Rodon and clutch hits from their stars, going up 1-0 in the best-of-seven ALCS.

Even after going down 4-0 early, Cleveland refused to give in, keeping the game close and prompting Yankees manager Aaron Boone to turn to his closer, Luke Weaver, for a five-out save to close things out. That was the right-hander's fifth appearance of the postseason - and Boone has asked him for more than three outs in three of them.

As a Cubs fan, I couldn't help but think back to this time eight years ago, when Joe Maddon seemed hellbent on getting every ounce of juice left in the left arm of Aroldis Chapman, turning to the hard-throwing left-hander at will throughout the postseason.

Chapman made 13 appearances that postseason - with five going longer than one inning. The key difference here is Maddon asked for more than three outs from his closer just one time prior to the World Series and that came in Game 6 of the NLCS, a 5-0 pennant-clinching win at home over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Boone, meanwhile, asked Weaver to do it twice in the Division Series and wasted no time going back to him to open the ALCS. There is a key distinction between Chapman and Weaver that's worth noting, though. The latter only assumed the closer's role late in the year and, prior to that, had several multi-inning relief appearances under his belt this season. As recently as 2023, the 31-year-old righty was a starter - so getting more than three outs isn't a big deal to him.

By the time that critical Game 7 of the Fall Classic arrived, it was clear Chapman was running out of gas - and, if you'll recall, Maddon admitted he mis-used him earlier in the series. The question with Boone and the Yankees is if they can afford to tread carefully with Weaver in a World Series-or-bust season that the brass feels needs to end with championship #28.