Yankees vs. Red Sox: Will the team heed Judge’s rallying cry?

After their debacle in Atlanta, the Yankees were looking for redemption and ready to give the all they can to win a playoff berth. Captain Aaron Judge has already issued a rallying cry and manager Boone expects them to follow similar exmaples where late season rallies turned the destiny of many teams. The Yankees’ first test will be on Friday night against the Boston Red Sox in a 3-game series at Yankee Stadium. The first game of the series is scheduled to start at 7:05 PM ET.

The New York Yankees (60-61), who are fifth in the AL East will be facing the Red Sox (63-58) for the third series this season. The Yankees were swept at Fenway Park when they met the alst time on June 18th. Then, the Red Sox outscored the Yankees by 17 runs.

The long history of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalary cumulates a 1,235-1,018 all-time record between these two, with the Yankees as the team with the most wins outscoring the Boston by 998 runs (10,914 runs over 9,916 runs). With the Yankees holding a home record of 669-456 over the Red Sox.

Besides the disappointing fact that the Yankees felt below .500 following the frustrating end to the road trip, which was capped with the 5-game losing streak and consecutive shutout game losses against the Braves, the team is entering Friday as series scoreless in eighteen innings (season high).

When hosting the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees are 9-4 versus their AL East rivals since 2022. With a batting average of .253 AVG, .347 OBP, .431 SLG and a .778 OPS.

The Yankees’ .232 BAA ranks first in the league, but since the Atlanta series went up to 4.04 ERA ranking 13th (ranked 10th before) in the league. However, if the Yankees are leaping in a particular part if the game, it is the scoring/runs production due to the team’s .231 AVG ranked 29th and a .306 OBP ranked 26th.

These stats represent a big challenge for the Yankees because the Red Sox’s strength lies on their offensive capabilities such as .261 AVG (ranked 4th), .327 OBP (ranked 8th), .430 SLG (ranked 7th) and .757 OPS (ranked 7th). Nevertheless, their 4.34 ERA (ranked 18th) and .255 BAA (ranked 22th) favors the Yankees possibilities to outscore Boston more than once in the series.

Since 2022, the record between these two Baseball clubs stands on 14-11, with the Yankees winning the most along with a .242 AVG, .326 OBP, .411 SLG, .737 OPS over those 25 games. While the Red Sox have a .232 AVG, .300 OBP, .403 SLG and a .703 OPS.

The Yankees have not played well lately, but there is still time (more than six weeks of baseball left). Also, the Yankees have history of rebounding off a concerning record to go into an unlikely run and advance into the post-season, just like the ‘95 New York Yankees did when their record was 60-61 on September 5th. This date is the latest into the season that New York has been below .500 before the series finale against the Braves this season.

In the current AL Wild Card race, the Yankees are trailing a 6.5 game deficit behind the Blue Jays. Standing still on a good position as potential contenders. However, the commitment of every player that has a chance to take a role on the field for the Yankees is essential to the keep thriving and find out the best way to play at a good pace that improves game performance and results in the remaining stretch.

The previous series had a good outcome for neither the Yankees nor the Red Sox. Boston is also coming off a bitter-ended road series after consecutive losses against the Washington Nationals. Now the Red Sox are 6-4 (.242 batting average, 4.40 ERA) in the last 10 games played, while the Yankees are 2-8 (.228 batting average, 5.72 ERA).

The home record favors the Yankees with their decent 35-28 over Boston’s 28-30 away record. A worrying fact is that the New York Yankees have not won a single series since sweeping the Kansas City Royals on June 23rd, with two split series and four lost series since then. Simultaneously, the Boston Red Sox gathered four series wins and four series losses during the same period.

So, the only thing better than getting back on the right track by beating the Red Sox to earn that long awaited series win is… sweeping them back to Boston. Therefore, if the Bronx Bombers are looking for the right time (this weekend with a quarter-season left) and the right place (at Yankee Stadium) to breakout, this is definitely the one they have to clinch and the perfect gift for the fans.

Yankees vs. Red Sox Game 1, August 18, 2023, 7:05 PM ET

The New York Yankees will face

Brayan Bello of the Red Sox in the series opener. The RHP will attempt to hold off the New York Yankees again this season.

Year	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	SO	WHIP
2023 Regular Season	8	7	3.81	20	20	0	113.1	96	1.26
Career Regular Season	10	15	4.11	33	31	0	170.2	151	1.44

Brayan Bello had the opportunity to pitch against the Yankees on June 18th, in which he allowed 1 run and 8 strikeouts over 7 innings to record a win over the Bronx Bombers.  During the second half, Bello is 2-2 record (in six games started) with a 5.67 ERA, 1.44 WHIP and .301 AVG while striking out 26 in 33.1 innings and allowing 40 H, 9 HR and 29 ER. Besides this statistics, this 2023 season Brayan Bello’s away record is 4-2. Bello’s ERA in the last 3 outings is 4.67, allowing 23 hits, 4 walks and striking out 14 batters.

Player	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	SO	K%	Whiff%	BB	BB%	BA	SLG	wOBA	xBA	xSLG	xwOBA	EV	LA
Bello, Brayan	61	56	14	5	0	0	17	27.9	33.3	5	8.2	0.25	0.339	0.29	0.218	0.301	0.262	87.3	8.6

															Statcast
Player	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	SO	K%	Whiff%	BB	BB%	BA	SLG	wOBA	xBA	xSLG	xwOBA	EV	LA
Torres, Gleyber	12	11	5	2	0	0	3	25	21.1	1	8.3	0.455	0.636	0.486	0.36	0.627	0.443	97	9.8
Cabrera, Oswaldo	11	11	2	1	0	0	2	18.2	31.8	0	0	0.182	0.273	0.195	0.213	0.266	0.208	80.5	12.2
Stanton, Giancarlo	6	5	0	0	0	0	5	83.3	66.7	1	16.7	0	0	0.116			0.116
Bauers, Jake	7	6	1	0	0	0	2	28.6	38.5	1	14.3	0.167	0.167	0.226	0.272	0.3	0.321	83	-15.8
Judge, Aaron	6	4	2	1	0	0	0	0	25	2	33.3	0.5	0.75	0.587	0.249	0.289	0.385	96	8.8
LeMahieu, DJ	3	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	11.1	0	0	0.333	0.333	0.294	0.318	0.441	0.324	95.6	29
McKinney, Billy	6	6	2	1	0	0	1	16.7	22.2	0	0	0.333	0.5	0.355	0.197	0.249	0.192	83	2.2
Bader, Harrison	3	3	1	0	0	0	1	33.3	33.3	0	0	0.333	0.333	0.295	0.204	0.212	0.185	83.1	13
Higashioka, Kyle	2	2	0	0	0	0	1	50	75	0	0	0	0	0	0.005	0.011	0.006	95.3	61
Volpe, Anthony	3	3	0	0	0	0	1	33.3	40	0	0	0	0	0	0.127	0.144	0.114	78.3	-4
Kiner-Falefa, Isiah	2	2	0	0	0	0	1	50	50	0	0	0	0	0	0.066	0.087	0.06	70.1	0

The pitch sequence of Sinker along with his 4-Seamer and Changeup, has given Bello a decent level of effectiness against the Yankees, considered simultaneously with his hihg Hard hit percentage (44.8%) and high swing and miss strikeout rate 33.3 Whiff%, makes him a hard pitcher to face, but a punishable pitcher if the Yankee players figure out his deliveries

Yankees vs. Red Sox Game 2, August 19, 2023, 1:05 PM ET

Yankees RHP Gerrit Cole, who will start Game 2, keeps playing a superior Baseball on the mound. In his last outing, in which he tossed a quality start against the Miami Marlins, he allowed just 2 earned runs out of 6 hits along with 6 strikeouts. But one more time, the collective effort was absence to support his performance and help him earn another win despite leaving the game to the relievers with a 3 run advantage.

Year	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	SO	WHIP
2023 Regular Season	10	3	2.76	25	25	0	156.1	166	1.05
Career Regular Season	140	74	3.19	292	292	0	1806.1	2096	1.10

Cole is facing the Red Sox for the second time this season, but the Boston based team is a familiar foe. With 156.1 innings pitched ranks 1st in AL, his 2.76 ERA is 2nd in AL, .214 BAA ranks 3rd in AL and 166 SO 3rd in AL.

Cole’s 7-1 record is at home (in fourteen games this season) with a 2.87 ERA in 87.2 IP, 66 H, 28 ER, 11 HR, 26 BB, 100 SO, .209 AVG and 1.05 WHIP.

Gerrit Cole is 7-4 with an ERA of 4.32 and 116 strikeouts in 16 appearances versus the Red Sox in his career. Here are his statistics of the batters he has faced in current Red Sox lineup:

															Statcast
Player	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	SO	K%	Whiff%	BB	BB%	BA	SLG	wOBA	xBA	xSLG	xwOBA	EV	LA
Cole, Gerrit	170	153	36	6	0	13	56	32.9	33.1	14	8.2	0.235	0.529	0.353	0.254	0.516	0.36	90.8	22.1

															Statcast
Player	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	SO	K%	Whiff%	BB	BB%	BA	SLG	wOBA	xBA	xSLG	xwOBA	EV	LA
Devers, Rafael	42	35	10	1	0	7	14	33.3	37.6	7	16.7	0.286	0.914	0.526	0.301	0.812	0.499	97.1	15.2
Verdugo, Alex	32	32	9	3	0	2	8	25	18.2	0	0	0.281	0.563	0.354	0.305	0.558	0.364	89.6	23.4
Duvall, Adam	19	18	3	1	0	1	9	47.4	35.1	1	5.3	0.167	0.389	0.252	0.149	0.287	0.208	84.6	20.2
Story, Trevor	19	17	3	0	0	1	5	26.3	27	2	10.5	0.176	0.353	0.268	0.269	0.403	0.329	87.1	24.2
Duran, Jarren	12	10	2	1	0	0	8	66.7	60	2	16.7	0.2	0.3	0.292	0.137	0.203	0.237	99.4	16.5
McGuire, Reese	14	13	1	0	0	1	3	21.4	33.3	0	0	0.077	0.308	0.148	0.153	0.36	0.232	93	35.2
Turner, Justin	10	9	4	0	0	0	2	20	7.1	0	0	0.444	0.444	0.425	0.366	0.542	0.435	87	20.8
Refsnyder, Rob	6	6	0	0	0	0	2	33.3	25	0	0	0	0	0	0.16	0.192	0.153	78.9	6.5
Casas, Triston	7	5	3	0	0	1	2	28.6	55.6	2	28.6	0.6	1.2	0.745	0.49	1.156	0.696	94.6	24.3
Yoshida, Masataka	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.23	0.257	0.211	87.7	32.3
Wong, Connor	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	25	0	0	1	1	0.804	0.72	1.07	0.747	104.7	14
Paxton, James	2	2	0	0	0	0	2	100	75	0	0	0	0	0			0
Urías, Luis	2	2	0	0	0	0	1	50	66.7	0	0	0	0	0	0.061	0.212	0.119	95.1	37

The 0.254 expected batting average is quite high in favor of the Red Sox lineup, but the 392.9 strikeout percentage plus the 33.1%% of swing and miss strikeout rate represent the effectiveness of some of Gerrit Cole’s pitches against Boston batters. Justin Turner, Alex Verdugo, Adam Duvall, Pablo Reyes, Triston Casas, Luis Urias and Connor Wong are batters that Gerrit Colr should be concerned about because of their ability hit with his pitches.

The pitcher facing the Yankees lineup in that game for the Red Sox is Kutter Crawford. A Right-handed pitcher with versatile pitching tehnique whose approach in the mound is to dominate the hitters by mixing his pitch type arsenal.

Kutter Crawford’s basics statistics:  

Year	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	SO	WHIP
2023 Regular Season	5	6	3.80	23	15	0	90.0	89	1.13
Career Regular Season	8	13	4.78	45	28	0	169.1	168	1.29

In his second half, in 7 games started (11 games played) his record stands 0-3, with a 5.95 ERA in 39.1 IP, allowing 42 H, 26 ER, 8 HR, 12 BB against 35 K, 1.37 WHIP and .266 AVG. In addition, his away record is 5-3 with 2.13 ERA and 54 SO.

In his career, he has a 1-1 record with 2.08 ERA and 14 SO in 2 games (no  starts)  against the Yankees at Yankee stadium.

Here are the batting statistics of the active New York Yankees players that had the opportunity to face Bayan Bello at home plate before this game.

Player	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	SO	K%	Whiff%	BB	BB%	BA	SLG	wOBA	xBA	xSLG	xwOBA	EV	LA
Crawford, Kutter	29	28	7	2	0	1	8	27.6	27.4	1	3.4	0.25	0.429	0.304	0.218	0.405	0.28	91.5	17.2

															Statcast
Player	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	SO	K%	Whiff%	BB	BB%	BA	SLG	wOBA	xBA	xSLG	xwOBA	EV	LA
Judge, Aaron	7	6	1	0	0	0	4	57.1	37.5	1	14.3	0.167	0.167	0.225	0.135	0.161	0.211	92.5	-12.5
Torres, Gleyber	6	6	1	1	0	0	0	0	14.3	0	0	0.167	0.333	0.21	0.358	0.851	0.508	89.8	8.3
Kiner-Falefa, Isiah	5	5	1	0	0	1	2	40	40	0	0	0.2	0.8	0.414	0.116	0.28	0.163	87.7	38
LeMahieu, DJ	3	3	0	0	0	0	1	33.3	14.3	0	0	0	0	0	0.099	0.255	0.15	94.5	30
Stanton, Giancarlo	4	4	2	0	0	0	1	25	50	0	0	0.5	0.5	0.442	0.326	0.404	0.323	101.3	13.3
Higashioka, Kyle	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.5	0.5	0.442	0.388	0.591	0.415	91.4	0.5
Bader, Harrison	2	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	25	0	0	0.5	1	0.631	0.094	0.151	0.102	84.3	52

Acording to those numbers, Kutter Crawford could find success in the game if the Yankees are not able to make solid contact with his deliveries. The Combination of his 4-Seamer and Cutter have worked before for him against the Bombers, proven with batting average of 0.250 against this team.

As his statcasts numbers show, Crawforsd’s strategy will be similar to the one he used against those Yankee batters before in order to keep the hitters controlled, but the Yankees could capitalize on his deliveries.

Yankees vs. Red Sox Game 2, August 20, 2023, 1:35 PM ET

Clarke Schmidt is coming off a very difficult start against the Atlanta Braves, in which for the first time in the second half he saw himself being getting a beating allowing 8 ER over just 2.1 innings pitched. The last time he was taken off the mound that early in the game was on May 14th against a Tampa Bay Rays (at a time they were the team with the best record).

Year	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	SO	WHIP
2023 Regular Season	8	7	4.76	25	24	0	117.1	113	1.36
Career Regular Season	13	13	4.36	59	29	2	187.2	182	1.36

Schmidt is 0-1 in over six games pitched against the Red Sox, with 4.32 ERA and 12 SO in his career. Schmidt is 3-5 record at home (in fourteen games) with a 3.97 ERA in 65.2 IP, 66 H, 29 ER, 12 HR, 14 BB, 60 SO, .258 AVG and 1.22 WHIP.

Regarding Schmidt’s performance against the White Sox batters, his numbers display successful outing against this team’s lineup:

															Statcast
Player	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	SO	K%	Whiff%	BB	BB%	BA	SLG	wOBA	xBA	xSLG	xwOBA	EV	LA
Schmidt, Clarke	44	41	11	3	0	3	7	15.9	16.7	3	6.8	0.268	0.561	0.373	0.241	0.406	0.305	90.6	19.8

															Statcast
Player	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	SO	K%	Whiff%	BB	BB%	BA	SLG	wOBA	xBA	xSLG	xwOBA	EV	LA
Devers, Rafael	8	7	1	0	0	0	3	37.5	33.3	1	12.5	0.143	0.143	0.197	0.207	0.264	0.266	96.1	-9.8
Turner, Justin	5	5	2	1	0	1	0	0	5.6	0	0	0.4	1.2	0.651	0.089	0.211	0.124	86.7	45.8
Verdugo, Alex	6	5	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	16.7	0.4	0.6	0.471	0.21	0.288	0.299	92.3	4.4
Casas, Triston	4	4	1	0	0	1	0	0	20	0	0	0.25	1	0.518	0.312	0.986	0.537	94.8	24.3
Duran, Jarren	5	4	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	20	0.5	0.75	0.565	0.473	0.555	0.496	104.1	16
Yoshida, Masataka	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	16.7	0	0	0	0	0	0.212	0.282	0.212	74	25.5
McGuire, Reese	3	3	1	0	0	1	1	33.3	20	0	0	0.333	1.333	0.691	0.13	0.296	0.18	94.9	10
Wong, Connor	2	2	0	0	0	0	1	50	33.3	0	0	0	0	0	0.433	0.47	0.397	76.3	23
Reyes, Pablo	2	2	0	0	0	0	1	50	50	0	0	0	0	0	0.042	0.057	0.04	75.9	52
Urías, Luis	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.463	1.277	0.718	99	26
Duvall, Adam	3	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.667	0.667	0.589	0.376	0.596	0.417	89.8	26
Refsnyder, Rob	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	100		0	0	0	0	0			0

Acording to those numbers, if Clarke Schmidt manages to keep the Red Sox batters controlled, he could earn another win for the Yankees. Keeping a effective strategy against players like Justin Turner, Alex Verdugo, Adam Duvall, Pablo Reyes, Triston Casas, Luis Urias and Connor Wong will be a huge factor a succesful performane.

The pitcher in charge of starting the game for the Red Sox in this series finale has not been announced yet.

Source: Baseballsavant

Key Players: New York Yankees

• Aaron Judge

The Yankees Captain Aaron Judge batted .288 with 19 hits, 5 homers, 8 RBIs and 15 runs scored in 18 games against the Red Sox in 2022. Judge also leads the Yankees 20 base on balls and .876 OPS in the second half of the season.

• Giancarlo Stanton

Just like Judge, Stanton hit 5 home runs along with with 18 hits, 11 RBIs and 11 runs scored in 19 games played against the Red Sox in 2022. Therefore, he’s expected to provide big time offensively contributes and rivalry power.

• GleyberTorres

Torres keeps leading the team during the games played on August with his 19 hits, 4 doubles his .333 AVG, .415 OBP, .509 SLG and .924 OPS. Gleyber Torres had a .246 batting average with 16 hits, a homer, 11 RBIs and 7 runs scored in 17 games versus the Red Sox in 2022.

• DJ LeMahieu

LeMahieu is hitting pretty well in this month of August so far. Despite resting time he needed past week to recover form his right calf tightness, this Yankee infielder keeps an active 9-game hitting streak. LeMahieu has a . 355 batting average with 11 hits, 1 RBI and 1 run scored in his last 9 games.

DJ LeMahieu hit .302 with 13 hits, a homer, 2 RBIs and 8 runs scored in 12 games against the Red Sox in 2022.

• HarrisonBader

Bader has proven his value as an elite outfielder in the center field, but during August is is the guy that has stepped on the plate the most with his 9 runs, adding depth to the team offensive with his base-running (4 SB) along with his 14 hits, .269 AVG and .333 OBP.

Key Players Boston Red Sox

• Justin Turner

Turner co-leads the Red Sox in runs batted in with 21 RBI’s during since the All-Star break. Within the same period, his batting average is .274 AVG    

• Masataka Yoshida

The Red Sox japanese outfielder has hit 13 times during August and a holds a .271 AVG.

• Pablo Reyes

The Red Sox japanese outfielder leads the team with  14 hits and 8 runs. Also  his .359 AVG, .405 OBP, .590 SLG, .995 OPS are the highest betweent Red Sox players duringthe month of August.

• Triston Casas

This rookie 1B is performing very well so far during this month, being Boston’s top player to drive in runs with 8 runs batted in. Along with his 13 hits, 8 runs and .888 OPS. He Also leads the Red Sox second half in 11 HR’s, 32 Hit, .337 AVG and a 1.153 OPS.

• Rafael Devers

The Red Sox 3B currently holds the second to best offensive stats out of the lineup players with 15 runs, 28 hits, 7 HR’s and .934 OPS. Is a Home run treat when facing Gerrit Cole.

The big question is if the Yankees can bounce back.

What do you think? Leave your comment below.