With a Destination of Baltimore Set, So Are the Yankees Richard Perry/The New York Times The N.L. play-in game between the Braves and Cardinals was on at Yankee Stadium during Friday night's workout. In past years when the Yankees won the American League East, they usually waited for an opponent to come to Yankee Stadium for the first two games of a playoff series. But when the Yankees arrived in the Bronx late Friday afternoon, two sheets of paper with the interlocking NY logo sat on the chairs in front of their lockers, one with a Baltimore Orioles logo in the top right corner, and the other with a Texas Rangers logo. At the time, the Yankees did not know whether they would be flying to Texas or taking the train to Baltimore. While they worked out under a night sky, the video screen in center showed the wild-card play-in game between the Rangers and the Orioles in Arlington, Tex., the game that would decide their immediate destination. Long after the Yankees players and coaches had gone, the game in Texas was still being played, and no one knew until later that the upstart Orioles had beaten the Rangers, 5-1, setting up the first playoff series between the Yankees and Baltimore since the 1996 American League Championship Series. The sheet of paper with the Rangers logo could be thrown into the recycling bin, and the itinerary for Baltimore, including an old-fashioned train ride to Maryland, went into effect. Even though the Yankees had the best regular-season record in the A.L. (95-67), the temporary format for this season - adopted for travel reasons - has the higher seeds opening at the lower seeds for the first two games of the series. The last three games will be played at the higher seeds" ballpark. "Usually, when you're the division winner you start at home, and we're starting on the road," Yankees Manager Joe Girardi said. It just seems to be uncertain what we're doing. There's a lot of uncertainty. I guess by midnight you would know a lot more. Until then, you sit and wait. But the circumstances of this year's playoff format provided numerous odd conditions for the Yankees, who began preparing for an unknown opponent and city, giving the day an indefinable quality. The series with Baltimore promises to be intriguing as the teams re-engage for the first time since they split a four-game series in Baltimore ending Sept. They also split the season series, 9-9. The Orioles will get one more opportunity to pass the Yankees after their monthlong divisional race in which the Orioles were tied with the Yankees on 10 different days but could never slip past them in the standings. The Yankees went through an organized workout that was more than their normal batting practice. They went through pitcher's fielding practice and infield drills as if it were an early day in spring training. The evening hour was chosen to give the Yankees extra rest after a demanding regular-season division race that was not decided until the final game of the season when the Orioles lost to the Tampa Bay Rays, sealing the A.L. East title for the Yankees. The Yankees then beat the Boston Red Sox to clinch a top seed with the best record in the league. "It is a little strange," Alex Rodriguez said of the scheduling, "but give Bud Selig and all the people at central baseball a lot of credit. This is as exciting a weekend as I've ever been a part of in my career. Because their opponent was not known at the time, the Yankees had to hold off on their scouting meetings, which would have taken place on the day of the first workout. Instead, those meetings will be held early Saturday morning before the team leaves town. "It really doesn't matter because there is nothing we can do about it," General Manager Brian Cashman said. We know we have to go somewhere and play someone. We'll find out who that is and then go play them. Cashman, Girardi and their staffs did hold meetings to assemble the playoff roster. They did not announce the roster, Girardi said, because they had not told some of the players whether they made it. A few already knew. Cory Wade's locker was cleaned out. David Aardsma said goodbye to teammates and wished them luck. Adam Warren threw live batting practice to Mark Teixeira earlier in the day to keep Teixeira's timing sharp, but he said he was then heading home and would watch the playoffs on television. As for the rotation, Girardi revealed only that C. C. Sabathia would start the first game. In his past three starts, Sabathia is 3-0 with a 1.55 earned run average, and opponents hit only .155 against him in those games. "The last three starts were vintage C. C.," Girardi said. He went deep into games, not a ton of pitches, quick outs, ground balls, his changeup was effective. That's what we want to see. And he will next see that at Camden Yards, where Sabathia is 10-3 lifetime, with a 3.38 E.R.A.