Embed from Getty Images The MLB post-season is finally here and two of Baseballs biggest rivals face off at Fenway Park as the New York Yankees take on the Boston Red Sox.
It has been a mixed season for both the Red Sox and the Yankees with Alex Cora’s ball club ending their season with a three-game series sweep of the Washington Nationals posting a 92-70 season in the American League. Meanwhile, the Yankees ended the regular season on a series loss to last season’s World Series runners-up Tampa Bay, as they also posted a 92-70 season picking up the second wildcard spot. Aaron Boone’s Yankees team will be looking to make the most of this post-season and will be chasing a 28th World Series title and their first since 2009. For the Red Sox, they will be looking to make it to the World Series and recapture the title they won in 2018 when they defeated the LA Dodgers. Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts and JD Martinez have all dominated the attack for the Red Sox this year with others also chipping in when needed. Alex Verdugo has been one of Cora’s most improved players this season and will be key to the Red Sox’s success going forward into the post-season.
Pitching Battle
The American League Wildcard game will see Gerrit Cole take to the mound for the Yankees. After a slow start to the season, Cole has come away with a respectable win/loss of 16-8 and an earned run average of 3.23 as he’s amongst the candidates to win this year’s Cy Young award. The Red Sox will have Nathan Eovaldi as starting pitcher. The 31 year-old has an 11-9 record this year and an ERA of 3.75 with his last game seeing him give up four hits against the Baltimore Orioles. On his day though he is up there as one of the best pitchers in the game. Being able to find a rhythm and consistency with his pitches can be easy and when he gets going he causes problems. His previous meeting with the Yankees saw him give up a total of seven hits as New York came away 8-3 winners on September 24th. Pitching and entry from the bullpen has been one of the Red Sox’s downfalls this year, struggling to find momentum and a level of consistency management of pitchers has been a worry. In the second half of this season, the club’s relief ERA has risen from 3.57 to 4.49.
Previous Meetings
This season has seen the two rivals face each other 19 times with the Red Sox leading 10-9 this year, however, no game will be bigger than this one. The last meeting between the two sides was back in September where the Yankees coming away 6-3 victors. In that game, the Red Sox failed to capitalise with runners on base with a total of eight runners being left compared to the Yankees’ four. It has been 17 years since Boston and New York met in the American League Championship series, a series that the Red Sox won in game seven as they claimed their first World Series crown in 86 long years. Whoever wins the game will go on to face the Tampa Bay Rays who themselves made it to the World Series last year.
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