The New York Yankees have caught fire again. New York is climbing back into the American League East race trailing by just 3 ½ games after winning each of its last eight. The Yankees are hitting the cover off the ball scoring 43 runs in their last three games while allowing just 15. All three of those games were part of a three-game sweep by New York over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Although Boston has won three of the last four including its Thursday game against the Miami Marlins 5-3, the Red Sox are in last place in the AL East a distant 14 games behind the first-place Tampa Bay Rays. Boston continues to have troubles on the mound as well as at the plate and the Red Sox are looking ahead to next April and the start of the 2020-21 MLB season.
New York scoring runs in droves
In New York's three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays, the Yankees scored 43 runs and hit 19 homers. Thirty of New York's 43 runs scored during the three-game series came via the home run. At the plate this season, New York has scored the fifth most runs at 266 and has the fifth-best slugging percentage at .467. The team batting average of .248 is 13th best in baseball while it's on base percentage of .342 is third-best. First baseman Luke Voit is leading baseball in home runs with 20 and is third in RBIs with 46.
Things aren't quite as good on the mound for the Yankees, but is still well above average. The team ERA of 4.16 is 11th best in baseball and opposing hitters are averaging .230 at the plate which is 6th best in baseball. The team WHIP of 1.22 is the fourth-best in the majors and the starting rotation has 16 Quality Starts making it the 10th best. Gerrit Cole has a team-high six victories, a team-high 87 strikeouts and as a starting pitcher has the best ERA at 3.00. Veteran left-hander J.A. Happ gets the nod on the mound for New York on Friday. Happ is 1-2 with a 3.96 ERA and the Yankees have won three of the left-handers last 5 starts
Pitching woes continue for Boston
The Boston Red Sox have the worst team ERA in baseball at 5.99 and the worst WHIP in the majors at 1.62. The problems for Boston pitching begins with the starting rotation as it has just 5 Quality Starts which is 26th. Opposing hitters are teeing off on Boston pitching to the tune of a .282 average which puts Boston pitching 29th out of 30 in baseball. It is not surprising why Boston has yet to announce its starting pitcher for Saturday's game against the Yankees as they likely don't know themselves who will start.
At the plate, the results have been slightly better for Boston this season. Alex Verdugo has a team-high .326 batting average and third baseman Rafael Devers has produced well the second half of the season and leads the team in home runs with 11 and RBIs with 36. As a team, Boston is averaging .264 at the plate which is fifth-best in all of baseball and it's slugging percentage of .445 is 9th best. However, with those two top 10 stats the Red Sox have scored just 235 runs which is 15th best meaning hitters are not performing well with runners in scoring position.
Notable Trends
- Boston has lost 41 of the last 59 against AL east teams
- The Red Sox have lost 24 of the last 33 at Fenway Park
- New York has won each of the last eight
- The Yankees have won 73 of the last 106 against teams from the American League East
