What to watch for in Yankees-Twins series

(Courtesy of Paul White, USA TODAY)

USA TODAY breaks down three facets of the New York Yankees-Minnesota Twins series:

What can stop the Yankees?

They had the best record in baseball, scored the most runs, and had the most hits and home runs, the highest on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

YANKS QUARTET: Jeter, Posada, Rivera, Pettitte go for fifth ring

They have the highest payroll, a couple of legitimate MVP candidates and arguably the most superstars anywhere.

The 103-win American League champions say they're most vulnerable on the mound.

That's where they're average. The Yankees have allowed 4.65 runs a game, a shade more than the major league average of 4.61.

They'll use three starting pitchers in this series, all of whom come with concerns. CC Sabathia, their $161 million offseason investment, allowed nine runs (five earned) in 2⅔ innings in his most recent start.

Aberration, considering he had won nine consecutive decisions and had a 1.62 ERA over his previous 10 starts?

Or signs of a return to postseasons past, where Sabathia has a 9.47 ERA in four starts over the last two years in the lower-pressure environments of Cleveland and Milwaukee.

Should Sabathia lose Game 1 at home, pressure in the best-of-five series mounts on the favored Yankees and their other two starters —Andy Pettitte and A.J. Burnett.

Pettitte is the veteran, steady hand with 31 of his 35 career postseason starts for the Yankees. But he's also 37, has one win since Labor Day and missed a September start with a sore shoulder.

Burnett, an $82.5 million winter signing, is an unknown quantity because he never has pitched in the postseason and has been prone to sudden big-inning meltdowns. He allowed five or more runs in eight of his 31 starts.

The silver lining? The extra day off allows extra rest for all-but-automatic closer Mariano Rivera, who turns 40 next month and pushes Joba Chamberlain to the bullpen, where has was a rookie revelation in 2007.

A-Rod revisited:

"Be careful what you wish for."

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez said those words while his team was waiting to find out who it would play in the AL Division Series. And they pretty much sum up his life in October since coming to the Yankees in 2004.

Rodriguez is a two-time MVP and twice a home run champ in pinstripes, but his time in the Bronx is partially defined by the Yankees' lack of a World Series championship since he arrived.

He got a year's respite when the Yankees missed the 2008 playoffs, but he's been growing October goat horns since a crucial interference play in Game 6 of the 2004 AL Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox.

Rodriguez hit .400 that postseason, but his arm chop knocked the ball out of pitcher Bronson Arroyo's glove and helped Boston complete its unprecedented comeback from three games down.

Since 2004, Rodriguez is 7-for 44 with one solo homer and no other RBI in the three division series the Yankees lost in 2005-07.