Masahiro Tanaka

When it comes to opt-out clauses, the New York Yankees tend to opt in.

They aren't always happy about it. They don't always do it right away. But when Alex Rodriguez opted out of his deal during the 2007 World Series, the Yankees turned around and gave him a bigger contract they would come to regret.

New York Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka has suffered a flexor mass injury, Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News reported Thursday.

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New York Yankees starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka is inching closer to a full return to the mound after undergoing elbow surgery in October.

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New York Yankees starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka has suffered a right elbow injury. 

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NEW YORK — Masahiro Tanaka made it through the regular season without needing Tommy John surgery, so that's something. He made it through his final regular-season start with his hamstring intact—another positive.

The pick-an-ace game of chance will not work in October.

The New York Yankees need a definitive answer. But for nearly six months, that all-important No. 1 spot in the rotation has been a revolving door of what-have-you-done-for-me-lately candidates, none of which have been able to keep the position in their grasps for what seems like more than a couple of weeks at a time because of ineffectiveness, injuries or both. 

NEW YORK — Over in the National League, the Wild Card Game matchup seemed set weeks ago.

Here in the American League, no one wants to acknowledge that any part of it is set yet.

The New York Yankees pitching staff took a hit Sunday when the team announced Masahiro Tanaka will miss Wednesday's start with a Grade 1 right hamstring strain.     

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Momentum is such a fickle thing in Major League Baseball.

While the narrative and storyline that comes along with it feed the public’s interest and make for good radio, column and bar-stool fodder, the truth is momentum in that sport shifts from day to day, inning to inning and even batter to batter. All the momentum in the world—negative and positive—can be altered by one misplaced pitch, a swat of a hanging breaking ball or the twirling of a gorgeous complete game.

Now the New York Yankees can fear the worst.

A heavy part of their 2015 success is contingent on the health, and therefore effectiveness, of Masahiro Tanaka. The narrative rightfully flowed as something like this: Whichever way their Japanese ace goes, so too shall the Bombers.