Game 153: Yankees (Severino) at Blue Jays (Gausman)

www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/yankees-6-immediate-priorities-dj-lemahieu-s-health-al-east-crown-giancarlo-stanton-s-slump/ar-AA12fBBp?cvid=db89d6b5dfda447f94e384bb24595808

Believe it or not, there’s more happening around the Yankees than Aaron Judge’s chase to catch Roger Maris.

Yes, Judge was homerless once again in a 2-0 rain-shortened, six-inning win over the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on Sunday night. He remains stuck on 60 homers — one shy of the single-season franchise mark Maris set in 1961.

But with the end of the season rapidly closing in, there are a handful of questions the Yankees still need to answer. Here are their six immediate priorities.

Seal the AL East crown

Two. That’s the Yankees’ magic number to win the American League East. They need any combination of two wins or Blue Jays losses and, what do you know, they’re about to play three games against Toronto at the Rogers Centre starting Monday. The Yankees could be soaked in beer and champagne come later that night. And that’s when tooling up for the postseason begins. That’s when the Yankees will be able to treat the rest of the season like an exhibition to shape their roster and to rest their stars.

See what DJ LeMahieu can offer

Spry. Lively. Fluid. LeMahieu (right second toe inflammation) hasn’t looked any of that in his light workouts as he tries to get off the injured list. He hasn’t appeared able to put his full weight into swings on the field pregame. He walks gingerly around the clubhouse and his locker. The Yankees undoubtedly would be much more dangerous with LeMahieu in the lineup. It would allow them to play Gleyber Torres at second base and LeMahieu at third with Josh Donaldson on the bench — if they wanted. It seems increasingly likely that they won’t get the chance.

Determine that postseason availabilities of Matt Carpenter, Andrew Benintendi

On Sunday, Carpenter walked into the Yankees’ clubhouse still wearing the boot protecting his broken left foot. Maybe Carpenter wore it only in the Uber to the Bronx as a precaution because he took it off when he got to his locker and put on a pair of sneakers, walking normally if not a little slowly. Carpenter has been standing in on bullpen sessions to at least regain the feel of being in the batter’s box. Meanwhile, Benintendi is still waiting on the stitches to heal on the right hand that he broke. It’s difficult to tell who would be closer to a return at this point. Benintendi would be the more welcomed return, considering his stellar defense in left field would mean the Yankees wouldn’t have to rely on rookie Oswaldo Cabrera (who has done a great job learning the position, by the way).

Pick who will be left off the postseason roster

Cashman, Boone and the front office have a lot of decisions to make when it comes to the roster for the American League Division Series. The bet here is that the Yankees leave Aaron Hicks off the offensive side with Oswaldo Cabrera surpassing him on the left-field depth chart. Aroldis Chapman seems like the odd man out of the bullpen, considering how the Yankees hardly use him in anything other than the lowest of leverage situations lately and how they don’t have a commitment to him next year. Depending on whether the Yankees want to add speedster Tim Locastro, Marwin Gonzalez could see his spot in jeopardy.

Decide the closer situation

Spoiler alert: They probably won’t. Unless Clay Holmes rediscovers the lights-out version of himself from the first-half, who would you trust in the ninth inning, no matter the situation? Nobody. So, as Boone has said, the Yankees will almost definitely mix and match throughout the postseason, which would seem like a recipe for disaster if it wasn’t their only answer. On Sunday, Holmes said that his slider feels like where it needs to be, and that he’s been working to re-incorporate a hard slider into his offerings. He had been throwing a sweepier-type slider that the Yankees try teaching seemingly all their pitchers, and Holmes has missed a bit with it of late. He added that the back pain he was dealing with that put him on the injured list hasn’t been an issue for a while.

Figure out the deal with Giancarlo Stanton

First of all: Stanton has hit just .161 with a .573 OPS in 24 games since coming off the injured list. Did he return too soon? Was his Achilles ever truly healed? Is this the production Stanton is going to give the Yankees in the playoffs? The Yankees surely hope not. In 18 postseason games with the Yankees, Stanton has a .297 average and a .734 slugging percentage. Maybe he’ll find that extra gear. The other question: Can Stanton play the outfield? They probably won’t need him there if Cabrera can handle left field and if Carpenter likely will be on the IL for the ALDS