New York Yankees Face Brutal Pitching Matchups in Series Against Red Hot Padres

The New York Yankees will try to bounce back this week starting on Monday night from an ugly series loss over the weekend to the Tampa Bay Rays.

It's a second consecutive dropped series to an inferior divisional opponent after losing two out of three last week to the Baltimore Orioles as well.

In order to try to get back on the right track, the Yankees will not only get out of the American League East, but the American League entirely with a huge challenge coming up against the San Diego Padres.

San Diego enters the series in the Bronx on the heels of being one of the best teams in baseball over the first month and change.

Just after hitting a bit of a rough patch and dropping four games in a row at the end of April, the Padres have one their last five straight with a two-game sweep over the San Francisco Giants and three over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Firing on all cylinders, San Diego presents quite the test for New York.

To make matters even more difficult, it seems each of the pitching matchups -- at least on paper -- favor the road team.

The Yankees will not get the benefit of having superstar ace Max Fried on the hill, throwing out their second-best on Monday night with left-hander Carlos Rodon taking the hill. For the Padres, it's one if the surprises of the start of the season in former Boston Red Sox right-hander Nick Pivetta.

While Rodon is starting to get it together after a rough start, Pivetta is on another level right now.

After signing a four-year, $55 million deal with San Diego, the 32-year-old has pitched to a 5-1 record and 1.78 ERA with a 0.821 WHIP, striking out 39 in 35.1 innings pitched.

Should New York figure out how to solve Pivetta, it doesn't get any easier from there.

It's a struggling Clarke Schmidt -- who sports a 5.52 ERA in his first three starts -- in a revenge game for Padres star Michael King, who the Yankees traded away in the Juan Soto deal.

King has pitched to a 2.09 ERA and 1.009 with a 4-1 record, striking out 46 in 38.2 innings pitched.

The final game of the series on Wednesday pits veteran Carlos Carrasco going up Dylan Cease for San Diego.

While the stats are actually relatively comparable following what has been a rough start to the year for Cease, most sane people would favor the pitcher who has been one of the best in baseball for half a decade over the borderline completely washed up veteran.

If New York wants to have any chance at claiming a series victory this week and avoiding dropping a third straight, it will likely be the offense to carry the load in three pitching matchups which favor the opponent significantly.

It's a real measuring stick for the Yankees to see where they are at as the summer rapidly starts to approach and it should be three great games in the Bronx.

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