#No one knows what’s next for Yankees in 2020

The Yankees made four members of their organization available to reporters before Wednesday’s game against the Orioles — their manager, first baseman, setup man and, of course, their traveling secretary. Because this year you better be on top of hitting, pitching and logistics.

Aaron Boone summed up the uncertainty and transience that is this season by saying, “I’m under the impression we are playing the Phillies next week.”

This is the season when the schedule is a moving target. Write it in pencil. Bring your eraser. The schedule was shrunk from 162 to 60 games and who knew that would be the easy part. Right now, what is on paper is more suggestion than hammered-in-granite reality. Flexibility and adaptability are essential. As Boone said, “You have to stay in the athletic position.” Adam Ottavino offered, “Once we agreed to play, you had your head on a swivel the whole time.”

Yep, all body parts better be committed to whatever is requested moment to moment. You may be preparing for a waltz contest and at the last second be told, “show us your best tap dancing.” This is baseball as “Chopped,” making something delectable out of random ingredients with the clock ticking.

Boone has expressed pride and appreciation in a group he says is committed to whatever it encounters. The Yankees have done well in their view at honoring restrictive protocols and holding each other accountable to that. They have offered no public whine about a script that is being written with the play already underway.

“We think we have a special team and can have a special season,” Boone said. “It has been easy to get those guys all in and committed to everything.”

Boone spoke from Camden Yards. The Yankees had been in Philadelphia to play the Phillies on Monday and Tuesday. But those games were canceled as were the ones in The Bronx on Wednesday and Thursday. The Phillies had shared a field over the weekend with the Marlins, the Typhoid Mary of this season. As of Wednesday morning, MLB had reported no COVID-19 test positives for 29 teams since last Friday. But 18 for the Marlins, including 16 among their players, had tested positive.

The Marlins are not playing before Monday. To try to rule out latent cases that had not shown yet among Phillies personnel, Philadelphia will not play before Saturday. The Yankees’ initial plan was to head home Tuesday from Philly for a workout at their stadium and wait for what was next. Suddenly what was next was Baltimore. That is where the Marlins were supposed to be on Wednesday and Thursday. So suddenly they had an open dance card and so the Yankees were now tap dancing rather than waltzing.

They voted unanimously to play two games in Baltimore, the Orioles did the same and MLB sanctified it. At that point, Yankees player rep Zack Britton had an “oh, yeah” moment and turned to longtime team traveling secretary Ben Tuliebitz and asked, “Can we get hotel rooms [in Baltimore]?” Tuliebitz said he thought so. Normally, he is reserving accommodations eight to 10 months in advance when the next year’s schedule comes out. But this schedule is on a minute-by-minute basis.

“It’s been a crazy couple of days,” Tuliebitz said.

It doesn’t end. Which is why Boone had an “impression” of the upcoming slate. Next week’s Yankees schedule — for now — now has four games against the Phillies followed by a weekend in Tampa that now suddenly includes a doubleheader. That doubleheader may become two seven-inning games, if MLB approves a request made by the players association designed to limit time in the stadium and lessen wear on pitchers.

Who knows what is coming next? This is not a season for those adamant about routine, unbending to alteration. Whichever team emerges is going to have a talent for both baseball and improv. Whichever clubs can’t handle this will be chopped.