NEW YORK _ As the Yankees begin the earnest work of planning a playoff rotation, James Paxton continued to make his case to start the AL Division Series opener.
Paxton won his 10th consecutive start, extending the longest such streak of his career, in the Yankees' 7-2 victory against the Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon.
Before 43,602 fans at Yankee Stadium, the left-handed Paxton yielded just one unearned run over six innings.
Paxton (15-6) gave up just three hits and walked none while striking out seven Blue Jays, while lowering his ERA to 2.25 during the streak, which dates to Aug. 2.
"I would still say that anything and everything is on the table," manager Aaron Boone said of the initial postseason pitching plan. "We're starting to talk through some potential scenarios now.
"Those conversations will continue until we set our roster and maybe even as the first round unfolds," said Boone, inviting the possibility of several scenarios.
The Yankees could use an opener for a game or have one starter follow another.
Boone was not around for much of Saturday's game, so he wasn't a live witness to Giancarlo Stanton's line drive RBI double to center and his monstrous solo home run to the distant left field bleachers.
In his third game back from his latest injured list stint (right knee strain), Stanton's sixth-inning blast off Brock Stewart was his first home run since June 24, also at the Stadium against Toronto (Derek Law).
Boone was ejected by third-base umpire Joe West following the bottom of the first, when three straight Yankees were struck out by Toronto starter T.J. Zeuch following a Brett Gardner leadoff single.
Batting coach Marcus Thames was also ejected by plate umpire Jeremie Rehak after the first inning.
Boone had already expressed his displeasure at West in Friday night's ninth inning, when the veteran umpire had the plate in the Yankees' 4-3 loss to Toronto.
Following Stanton's second homer of the year, the Yankees broke it open with three more runs in the sixth.
Toronto left fielder Teoscar Hernandez lost two balls in the sun that went as doubles, including a liner by Gio Urshela. Clint Frazier cashed in with an RBI single and Kyle Higashioka collected a two-out, two-run single for a 6-1 lead.
It's likely that either Paxton or Masahiro Tanaka would draw the best-of-five AL Division Series opener on Oct. 4 at Yankee Stadium.
Boone said that Tanaka would likely start next Sunday's regular-season finale at Texas, which puts him on regular rest for ALDS Game 1.
Of course, Paxton could also draw that start on one extra day of rest or he could follow Tanaka on Sunday as a playoff tune-up.
"We'll obviously watch and monitor what they do from now until the end of the season," Boone said of giving all of his pitchers the proper rest leading into October. "So, we feel we're in a pretty good spot to go with, whatever direction we end up deciding."
Making his second start of the season in Sunday's series finale against Toronto, right-hander Luis Severino seems to be a prime candidate to start Game 2, with either Tanaka or Paxton starting on the road in Game 3.
And the Game 1 starter would be the likely starter for a decisive Game 5 at the Stadium.
But the identity of the Yankees' ALDS opponent will factor into any pitching decisions.
"That will certainly go into ... setting the roster and deciding who are those final couple of pitchers on the roster," Boone said. The identity of the opponent "could play into how we deploy our guys and our starters...within the series."
