Thursday saw the Yankees wrap up a four-game set against the Blue Jays with a loss, earning a series split. The last two games were especially frustrating, with the Yankees scoring just one total run between them. However, this would be a bad time for them to them to dwell on those woes. Now comes another AL East matchup, one that has some stakes, despite it still only being May.
Somewhat out of nowhere, the Rays have been on fire to start 2026, leading the American League in wins at this stage of the season.
While that does mean they also lead the AL East, the Yankees aren’t that far behind. A series sweep could get the Yankees with a game. On the flipside, a Rays sweep would leave the Yankees back an amount that is far from impossible to claw back, especially since it’s only May, but it wouldn’t be ideal. You can’t call any series at this stage of a year a “must win,” but the Yankees certainly could use a couple victories.
Before the action gets going tonight, here’s a look at the probable pitching matchups for this weekend.
Friday: Gerrit Cole vs. Nick Martinez (7:05 pm ET)
For the first time in a year and a half, we will get to see Gerrit Cole pitch in a game that counts tonight. After missing all of last season and the first couple months of this one, Cole will return in the series opener after recovering from Tommy John surgery. There’s only so much that you can read into minor league rehab starts, but Cole looked sharp in his most recent, even hitting 99 mph with his fastball. More than anything, it’ll just be nice to have him back.
Martinez has been around for a while now, but he’s already on the verge of having his best career MLB season. With a 1.51 ERA and a 3.26 FIP, Martinez is up to 2.3 rWAR and 1.3 fWAR, both of which have him well on pace to set new career highs. One thing that’s been especially notable about his season so far is that his Left on Base Percentage is a ridiculous 91.1%. Last year’s leaders in that stat ended up in the mid to low 80s — and are a who’s who of today’s pitching — so it’s likely that he’ll regress eventually, but can the Yankees cause any of that tonight?
Saturday: TBD vs. Drew Rasmussen (1:35 pm ET)
The Yankees called up Elmer Rodríguez in the aftermath of Max Fried’s injury, but returned him back to the minors after that start. While Cole coming back has filled in that slot, the Yankees haven’t confirmed precisely what they’re going to do for the reason of this weekend. Ryan Weathers would be on normal rest for this game, so we can presume they’ll just stick with the order they’ve been in, but we shall see.
This is going to be a theme for the Rays’ pitchers in this series, but Rasmussen has gotten off to a nice start to 2026. He’s put up a 3.19 ERA over his nine starts so far this year. According to the stat Game Score, the best start of his this year came against the Yankees back on April 12th. That day, he held the Yankees to no runs and just one hit in six innings.
Sunday: TBD vs. Shane McClanahan (1:35 PM ET)
Likewise with Saturday, the Yankees haven’t announced anything for Sunday. Again like Weathers, Will Warren would be on normal rest for the series finale, the Yankees just haven’t confirmed anything at time of writing.
The 2026 season has marked McClanahan’s return to the majors after missing all of the last two with Tommy John surgery and then further injuries. He’s another that has been good up to this point, with a 2.82 ERA and a 2.73 FIP. In his most recent start, the Orioles did get him to four runs in five innings, but in the four starts prior to that, the two-time All-Star did not allow a run.
