The New York Yankees have been one of the best teams in Major League Baseball in the first month of the season, and hope to keep it going in May. The Toronto Blue Jays, meanwhile, are hoping to leave a host of troubles behind them in April.
While Toronto was projected to be among the best teams in the American League East, it has gotten off to a rough start. The Yankees are tied for first in the division with the Orioles behind some impressive contributions from their players.
The Yankees are at home for this series and have been very good there this season, so they are hoping to grab at least a couple wins.
This series will be contested from Monday, May 1 through Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Tuesday’s clash is being shown live on MLB Network and Wednesday’s game will be shown on ESPN.
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Pitching Matchups
On Monday, the Yankees will send Luis Severino the hill, and he will be opposed by Toronto’s Marco Estrada. Severino has been fantastic this season. He has a 2-1 record with a 3.00 ERA and a 0.78 WHIP. Severino has struck out 33 batters and walked only four in 27 innings, which means the success is no fluke. Estrada has also been good, coming in with an 0-1 record and a 2.70 ERA. He has 33 strikeouts in 30 innings, so both starters will aim to keep it rolling.
The Tuesday matchup features New York’s Masahiro Tanaka against Toronto’s Mat Latos. Tanaka struggled early in the season but has been better of late and has a long track record of success. The Yankees should have the pitching advantage in this one.
The series will wrap up with a pitching matchup between the Yankees’ C.C. Sabathia and Toronto’s Marcus Stroman. This is one that the Blue Jays could be favored in, as Stroman has solid stuff while Sabathia isn’t the same dominant pitcher he used to be.
The Incredible Aaron Judge
The Yankees have gotten solid performances from a variety of players to start the season, but the biggest star has been young outfielder Aaron Judge. He has big-time power and that has been on full display.
Judge is batting .303 with 10 homers and 20 RBIs on the season. He has an OPS of 1.161, which is the best on the team and among the best in the major leagues. Judge isn’t likely to hit over .300 this season because he strikes out too much, but the power is a huge asset.
He has a 35-homer ability and will aim to stay hot in this series. The Blue Jays must be able to contain Judge, because a couple big bombs off his bat could swing a game in this series.
Missing Stars
The Blue Jays have been hit hard by the injury bug early in the season. Their star third baseman, Josh Donaldson, has been out for a couple weeks with a calf injury and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki recently joined him on the disabled list.
Edwin Encarnacion left for Cleveland in free agency and Jose Bautista has really struggled out of the gate, which has turned Toronto’s normally-potent offense into one that’s struggled to score runs.
The Blue Jays need to stay afloat until they can get the left side of their infield back. A series win in New York would be a nice step in that direction, although it will be tough since the Yankees seem to have the starting pitching advantage and the better lineup in addition to the home field advantage.
New York is looking like a playoff contender early on and will look to keep playing well in front of its fans in this early season showdown against its American League East brethren.
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