If nothing else, the Yankees have maintained the status quo after splitting the doubleheader on Saturday. Playing at home, though, the expectation was always to gain ground on the Red Sox, and to do that, they’ll need to win again on Sunday. Perhaps more importantly, the season series is on the line, as is potential home-field advantage in a Wild Card Series matchup. If the Yankees and Red Sox end 2026 with the same record, then head-to-head record will be the tiebreaker, and they are in a dead heat.
So this may determine whether it’s a playoff showdown at Fenway or Yankee Stadium.
Winning a baseball game automatically requires you to score runs, but I should correct myself and say run(s)—after all, the Yankees showed us on Friday night that even one can be enough if your pitching is flawless. Speaking of one, that’s how many runs the Yankees scored in their first 20 innings of this series before exploding in the second half of yesterday’s doubleheader.
The common thread for the overwhelming majority of those 20 innings in which the Yankees’ offense’s sole productive action was a Paul Goldschmidt solo shot was their continued struggles against left-handed pitchers as of late—held in check by Patrick Sandoval and Jake Bennett, the former of whom one can’t even claim is having a good season in the first place; he recently returned from a two-year absence due to injury. Sure, we could also point to the scoring they did off the since-demoted Raymond Burgos, but he came in for mop-up duty, well outside the circle of trust for high-leverage spots in the Red Sox bullpen. L
Now, given that the Red Sox have approximately 27 left-handed starters in their five-man rotation, we’ll get to see another one of them this Sunday in Ranger Suárez. The former Phillie has delivered exactly what the Sox thought they were getting when they inked him to a lucrative long-term deal this offseason—of all Boston’s starters having productive campaigns, it was only Suárez who represented them in the All-Star Game this past July.
Even considering Saturday’s blowout win, this has been a series of very little slugging for the Yankees, with three extra-base hits in as many games, including just one in 17 innings of hitting last night. One of the keys to success for Suárez, particularly this season, has been his ability to limit slugging, considering he tends to run a high BABIP, once again over .300. Across 23 starts with the Red Sox, Suárez has allowed a .340 SLG, in line for a career low as a qualified starter. There were some concerns about his move to Fenway Park, the land of doubles, but the veteran lefty has been able to navigate that reasonably well, although we should note his 2.67 ERA is significantly better than at home, over 4.00.
The Yankees will once again try to find success with a righty-heavy lineup against the southpaw, though that has remained hard to come by. Of note, Ben Rice is getting the day off while fellow lefty Luis García Jr. mans the DH spot with Paul Goldschmidt at first. Also, George Lombard Jr. will be on the bench following his injury scare last night; José Caballero will play shortstop.
How to watch
Location: Yankee Stadium – Bronx, NY
First pitch: 1:35 pm ET
TV/Streaming: YES, NESN
Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 – NYY | WEEI 93.7, WCCM 1490 AM (SP), WESX 1230 AM (SP) – BOS
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