The Yankees have their biggest series of the year lined up starting tonight, and they could not be in a worse state entering it. Losers of eight of their last nine, New York has surrendered the AL East to the Rays who went on a big winning streak of their own at the same time to carve out a four-game lead. Conveniently, they’re now set to open a four-game against Tampa that could bring them right back, but entering their house of horrors at the level of play they’ve shown over the past two weeks
is a recipe for disaster. The worst-case scenario for this matchup feels like it could fare just like that fateful series against the Blue Jays last year to open up July that saw them fall out of first place for good, and though the Yankees built themselves a decent lead in the Wild Card race that gap isn’t looking too big anymore either.
Nick opens the day up for us with a look at the pitching matchups that we’ll see in this Rays series, and Kevin follows up with the Rivalry Roundup featuring the Astros besting those Rays to do the Yankees a small favor. Jonathan wishes Willie Randolph a happy birthday and relives his legacy of success as a player and coach with the Yankees. Josh looks over the Giants to see if there’s a reasonable trade the two teams could work towards, Michael examines the inability of the team to work walks of late, and finally I’ll be back later in the day to open up the mailbag for this week.
Today’s Matchup:
New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays
Time: 6:40 p.m. EST
TV: YES Network, Rays.TV
Venue: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL
Questions/Prompts:
1. Get your predictions in now: will the Yankees win zero, one, two, three, or all four of these games in Tampa?
2. Will the USA defeat Belgium tonight to advance to the quarterfinals? Will Folarin Balogun make an impact after getting his one-game suspension reversed?
