Did Yankees just reveal J.A. Happ will start Wild Card Game without saying so?

The Yankees’ weekend starting rotation appears to be a giveaway that left-hander J.A. Happ will start next Wednesday’s AL Wild Card Game.

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Yankees‘ game notes for Thursday list their probable starting pitchers for this weekend’s final regular-season series in Boston as TBD for Friday night, TBD for Saturday afternoon and TBD for Sunday afternoon.

Is this another indication that the Yankees really haven’t decided who will start their American League Wild Card Game against the Oakland Athletics next Wednesday night?

Manager Aaron Boone has been saying that J.A Happ, Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka are in the running, and he said it again in his presser before Thursday’s matinee against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Asked directly if he’s any closer to naming a starter, Boone answered, “No. We want to go out and win today. Hopefully we get to a point this weekend where we’re really juggling it to set up how we want.”

Fair enough, but …

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A few minutes after Boone’s pre-game interview was over, the Yankees announced their rotation for their final regular-season series. Happ will pitch Friday night at Fenway Park, Lance Lynn will take the mound on Saturday and Luis Severino will get the ball Sunday.

From that, it sure looks like Happ, as expected, will pitch Wednesday’s do-or-die.

Happ will go into Wednesday’s game on regular rest, four days, while Severino would have just two days and Tanaka would have seven following consecutive poor outings.

There’s been speculation that the Yanks would like to win the Wild Card Game with Severino or Tanaka starting, so that Happ would be lined up to pitch twice in Boston in a best-of-five Division Series against the Red Sox. Happ has been tough on the Red Sox throughout his career, especially in Fenway Park.

Boone, however, dropped a big hint that Happ indeed will be his Wild Card starter when he was asked if it was a tough call deciding whether to save the lefty for the Red Sox.

“No,” Boone answered. “I would say we’re going to pour everything kind of into the Wild Card Game and what we think will give us the best chance.”

Happ clearly is the best option, as he’s been their most consistent starter since being traded by the Toronto Blue Jays to the Yankees on July 26. He’s 16-6 with a 3.57 ERA in 30 starts for the season and 6-0 record and 2.34 ERA in 10 starts as a Yankee.

Severino (19-8) has been one of the winningest pitchers in baseball this season, but he’s just 5-6 with a 5.57 ERA in 12 starts after the All-Star break after going 14-2 with a 2.31 ERA in the first half. He’s made a late push to be chosen for the Wild Card Game start by going 2-1 with a 2.04 ERA over his last three outings.

Tanaka (12-6) positioned himself to be a co-favorite along with Happ by pitching to a 1.80 ERA over six starts from Aug. 16 to Sept. 14, but he probably killed his shot by allowing nine runs, eight earned, over eight innings in his last two starts, both of which he had no command of his best pitch, his splitter.

Officially, all three still are in contention, but don’t buy it.

Severino isn’t going to start the Wild Card Game on two days rest and the Yankees would be roasted by media and fans if they were eliminated with Tanaka having a third poor outing in a row while Happ was being saved for a Division Series that they wouldn’t play in without a Wild Card Game victory.

“We feel like in a lot of ways we’re dealing with a few different really good options that whoever doesn’t end up going (in the Wild Card Game) make sense going in the next series,” Boone said. “But we’re going to, as best we can, determine what path we like the best going into the Wednesday game

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.