The New York Yankees dropped two of three over the weekend to the Rangers and have now lost ten of their last 12 games. In addition, the Bronx Bombers have lost four straight series. The Yankees have now fallen out of the top spot in the AL East. They need to get back on track and they’ve got the perfect opposition for that, taking on the Chicago White Sox in a four-game series. Chicago has the second worst record in the AL.
This series will be contested from Monday, June 26, 2017 through Thursday, June 29, 2017 at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago.
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Pitching Matchups
The Yankees will start off the series with their young guns as Jordan Montgomery and Luis Severino are slated to start on Monday and Tuesday respectively. The Bombers will have another youngster starting the game on Thursday. Nevertheless, Wednesday’s starter—the veteran of the foursome—is the biggest question mark. Masahiro Tanaka makes that start.
On the other side of the diamond, the White Sox will send a southpaw to the hill to counter Montgomery Monday, turning to David Holmberg. Then, it’s Jose Quintana on the bump on Tuesday. The last two starts are expected to go to Mike Pelfrey and James Shields.
So, the series starts with a pair of rookie lefties. Montgomery has the better numbers. He’s 5-4 with a 3.74 ERA and 1.246 WHIP. He’s coming off a strong 5.2 innings against the Angels, allowing two runs. He’s only allowed more than two runs once in his last six games.
As for Holmberg, he’s been shuffling between the rotation and the pen all season, making five starts and nine relief appearances. He’s pitching to a 2.84 ERA, but his 4.24 FIP indicates luck has played a significant role. His BABIP is artificially low. He also managed to go just 3.1 innings in his last start.
Moving on to Tuesday, Quintana against Severino should be a fantastic matchup.
Quintana is a former Yankee farmhand that they basically gave away. Severino is an arm they refused to trade. The former has had the more impressive career, but the latter is having the better season.
Severino is the Yankees’ leader in ERA out of the rotation. He’s 5-3 with a 3.30 ERA and 1.088 WHIP in 87.1 innings of work. He’s slumped a bit in his last two starts, which has been part of the Yankees’ slump. He’s thrown 12 innings in his last two starts with 10 runs allowed, six walks and 12 hits. On the other side, Quintana is 4-8 with a 4.69 ERA, but he’s now thrown back-to-back quality starts, going seven innings, allowing two runs against the Blue Jays and following that up with 6.2 scoreless against the Twins.
In Game 3, Tanaka will look to build off a great last start. He held the Rangers scoreless in eight innings in his last start. He allowed just three hits and two walks while striking out nine in the 100-pitch effort.
The start is one of a handful of great outings this year amidst a collection of terrible ones. He’s 5-7 with a 5.74 ERA overall. Can he build off this las start or will he regress back to the troublesome starter he’s been all year?
He’ll pitch opposite of Mike Pelfrey who, given his recent past, should be a good opponent to collect a win against. He’s only 4-6 in 13 starts for the Sox, but he’s also pitching to a 3.73 ERA since Chicago picked him up. That’s darn good.
Finally, on Thursday, what ultimately should have been a matchup of a couple grizzled vets is now a showdown between a young fill-in, Luis Cessa, and a vet, James Shields.
Betting Trends
A week and a half ago, this Yankee squad was one of the best teams in baseball. Now, they’re on a slide and are looking for a way to get back in the win column.
The pitching has been the biggest culprit in the struggles, but carrying low performers at the corner infield positions has started to take its toll as well.
In fact, the Yankees recently designated first baseman Chris Carter for assignment, calling up Tyler Austin to help fill the void until Greg Bird returns both from the DL and to the form he showed in Spring Training.
Austin, of course, is not a complete answer, but they’re hoping for better results than they’ve gotten at the position so far. He was hitting .300 with a .926 OPS at Triple-A before the call.
The pitching, however, remains an issue. The bullpen is still ranked No. 3 in the AL with a 3.42 ERA, but Tyler Clippard and company have struggled some lately due to a heavy early workload.
Defensive Difference
The Yankees have the offensive edge for sure with 68 more runs scored than the White Sox this year. They’ve also slammed 35 more homers.
In addition, the bullpen and even the starting pitching is more polished and likely to deliver better results. However, the advantage for the Bronx Bombers does not stop there.
All too often we neglect defense when analyzing teams and when the game is close, little mistakes on the field make a huge difference.
Of course, mental mistakes aren’t captured in the stat line, but physical ones are and in that area, the Yankees have been much better.
New York has made 40 errors this year while the White Sox have made 54. The Yankees rank No. 7 in baseball, Chicago sits at No. 27.
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