While the Yankees didn’t as much as a lot of people hoped at the trade deadline, they still made a couple moves, and also called up top prospect George Lombard Jr. That being said, they still haven’t looked that different early on. The Yankees dropped two of three in their series against the Cardinals. The lone win did feature Lombard homering, which was fun. Now, the Yankees will welcome the Braves to town for a three-game series.
After missing the playoffs last season, the Braves have rebounded
this year and are in control of the NL East, homing in on a double-digit game lead. They’ve been led by Chris Sale and Matt Olson, who have powered the fifth best pitching staff and the sixth best offense according to runs per game. Even if the Yankees hadn’t been struggling lately, this would be a tough test.
Before the action gets going later today, let’s take a look at the expected pitching matchups for this weekend.
Friday: Max Fried vs. Tyler Mahle (7:05 pm ET)
This will be Fried’s first ever game against the team he came up with, as he didn’t pitch against the Braves when these two teams met last year. Since coming off the injured list, Fried has put up a 2.70 ERA and a 1.29 FIP in three starts. Surprise, surprise, the offense didn’t get him enough support last time around, but he struck out seven Cubs in 5.1 innings in his last start. He reached 78 pitches in that game, so you’d expect him to inch closer to a normal pitch load in this outing.
Mahle was a deadline pickup by the Braves, and this will be his first appearance for the team. He doesn’t have especially impressive numbers this year (5.13 ERA, 4.37 FIP), but Atlanta needed some innings in the rotation behind Sale, as they’ve dealt with some pitching injuries this year.
Saturday: Gerrit Cole vs. Chris Sale (3:05 pm ET)
This would’ve been an absolute must watch pitching matchup circa 2018, ans it’s still a pretty good one now.
After a spotless first two appearances of the season, Cole looked a bit iffy in June, but he’s been very good every since then. Dating back to the start of July, he has a 2.75 ERA and a 2.68 FIP and has struck out 44 batters in 38 innings. He has walked a combined five batters in his two most recent games, so that could be a trend to keep an eye on in this one.
Despite being 37 and having missed a decent chunk of last season, Sale still looks excellent. His 2.08 ERA is better than two seasons ago when he won the NL Cy Young, and he’s been especially good of late, having been named the NL Pitcher of the Month for July.
Sunday: Cam Schlittler vs. Grant Holmes (1:35 pm ET)
His numbers overall for the season are still excellent, but home vs. road splits are starting to become a thing to keep an eye on when it comes to Schlittler. On the road, he has a 1.10 ERA and is holding hitters to a collective .463 OPS. However in the Bronx, those numbers rise to 4.32 and .761. We saw him dominate at home last season, including most notable in the AL Wild Card Series, but this difference is something we should hope doesn’t become a greater trend.
Holmes was a first round pick by the Dodgers all the way back in 2014, but he only cracked the majors back in 2024. His numbers are solid but not overwhelming, with his FIP suggesting there could be some negative regression happening at some point. The Yankees saw Holmes as a starter once last season, scoring three runs on seven hits in six innings.
