What Gives Yankees Edge Over Red Sox For Wild Card Game
As the Yankees head up north to Fenway Park for an AL Wild Card showdown with their hated rivals on Tuesday night, there is one major key to New York coming away with a win.
It’s pretty simple actually. Pitching, pitching and more pitching.
That’s how they got to this point. The Yankees were fighting for their lives to make the playoffs and were staring down the barrel at a brutal final nine-game stretch against their three biggest division rivals in the Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays.
Behind timely hitting and lights out pitching, the Yankees came out with a postseason berth by going 6-3 against these familiar foes.
Now, it all starts with their ace Gerrit Cole, who is set to take the hill in a hostile environment on the road for his most important outing as a Yankee to date.
But Cole has been up-and-down in big games thus far. Although he allowed a respectable three-runs across six innings against the Red Sox when pitching at Fenway on September 24, Cole had a shaky September overall.
In his last start in Toronto, he surrendered five runs in six innings, and prior to his last time out in Fenway, he was lit up for seven runs against the Cleveland Indians.
If the Yankees are going to come out on top, they will need Gerrit Cole to step up and be the No. 1 starter they signed to a massive nine-year, $324 million contract in the 2020 offseason.
Beyond Cole, the Yankees have received strong contributions from their bullpen from the likes of Luis Severino, Jonathan Loáisiga, Domingo Germán, Wandy Peralta, Clay Holmes and Michael King.
Depending on how deep Cole goes against the Red Sox, the Yankees’ high-leverage relief arms are going to need to be lockdown in this contest against a high-powered Boston lineup as well.
Luckily, closer Aroldis Chapman has seemingly gotten back on track after going through immense struggles during the summer. Chapman has only allowed one-run and walked three batters to go along with 17 strikeouts in his last 9.2 innings.
Setup man Chad Green has also returned to dominant form as of late, picking up three wins and across 8.1 shutout innings in his last seven appearances. With Loáisiga back from the injured list, this gives the Yankees’ bullpen three strong late-inning arms in the ‘pen, which should help their case in the Wild Card Game.
Although the Yankees lost the season series to the Red Sox by going 9-10 in 19 contests this season, they have won the last six games against them and have had their number as of late.
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