Red Sox-Yankees, a tale as old as time. The greatest rivalry in all of American sports is renewed this weekend. While it’s inexplicable that the schedule allowed these division foes to stay away from each other as long as they have, we will be looking at two of the American League’s top teams. The Yankees will enter with a 31-26 record, while the Red Sox are 2.5 games ahead of them. The series is currently 1,226–1,021 in favor of the Yankees; however, the Red Sox 2000’s success makes this a fight.
Bitter rivalries are always close. Also, the series is at Yankee Stadium, giving the Yankees an edge. With that said, the Red Sox-Yankees series theoretically shouldn’t be close. Here’s why.
Current Form
The Yankees enter the series 3-7 in their last 10 games. This all comes with anemic offensive production for a stretch greater than that. Included in this stretch are three games dropped to the 23-33 Detroit Tigers. Again, the offense has not produced enough to leverage good pitching. With that said, New York did manage to split a series against the best team in baseball, Tampa Bay, who one 16 of 17 going into that series.
On the Red Sox side, they enter this series 5-5 in their last 10 games. However, they are currently the second-best offense in the American League, with 276 runs scored. The downside is that they just dropped three games to the Houston Astros. This extended a stretch where the Astros had eight consecutive starts where only 1 run went on the board.
Decision: Draw
Infield
First Base
New York: DJ LeMahieu .255/.338/.327 3 Home Runs
Boston: Danny Santana .143/.250/.429 2 Home Runs
While DJ LeMahieu has been disappointing after his terrific 2020 and big contract this winter, the Red Sox haven’t been better at first base. Bobby Dalbec has been disappointing this season after a hot September and Spring Training. With Danny Santana’s addition to the roster, the team has only improved, but he is not a world-beater offensively either.
Decision: Advantage Yankees
Second Base
New York: Roughned Odor .189/.277/.358 5 Home Runs
Boston: Christian Arroyo .282/.330/.412 1 Home Run
Since Christian Arroyo was brought into the organization, he has been a major contributor. The injuries to Dustin Pedroia have left the position in limbo, but the combination of Arroyo and Kike Hernandez has been one of the best attempts at replacement. With that said, it isn’t hard to beat out a player whose team paid the Yankees to take. Roughned Odor is batting .189 with no signs of heating up.
Decision: Advantage Red Sox
Third Base
New York: Gio Urshela .261/.309/.417 6 Home Runs
Boston: Rafael Devers .279/.351/.584 14 Home Runs
This is the easiest decision of the infield. Rafael Devers is offensively the best third baseman in the American League and boasts being in the 98th percentile in barrel%.
Decision: Advantage Red Sox
Shortstop
New York: Gleyber Torres .262/.349/.337 2 Home Runs
Boston: Xander Bogaerts .312/.373/.538 10 Home Runs
Gleyber Torres is certainly a talented young player; you’d want to have him as your second baseman. However, I can’t go with Gleyber. Xander Bogaerts, while ice-cold, has played on an MVP level this season.
Decision: Advantage Red Sox
Outfield
Left Field
New York: Clint Frazier .184/.303/.326 5 Home Runs
Boston: Alex Verdugo .286/.347/.453 7 Home Runs
Nobody who is batting under the Mendoza Line is eligible to be chosen. I do not care if that eliminates half of the Yankees roster.
Decision: Advantage Red Sox
Center Field
New York: Brett Gardner .197/.281/.279 1 Home Run
Boston: Kike Hernandez .228/.284/.383 5 Home Runs
This decision follows the same rules as the last one. The only difference here is that if a lemur played the position, it would have a better arm than Brett Gardner.
Decision: Advantage Red Sox
Right Field
New York: Aaron Judge .289/.390/.532 13 Home Runs
Boston: Hunter Renfroe .261/.301/.460 7 Home Runs
Hunter Renfroe has been fantastic over the past 30 days, including a .839 OPS. However, with that said, he still isn’t a perennial all-star like Aaron Judge.
Decision: Advantage Yankees
Designated Hitter
New York: Giancarlo Stanton .259/.331/.483 9 Home Runs
Boston: JD Martinez .317/.387/.566 12 Home Runs
JD Martinez is back in 2021, and he is back with a vengeance. Martinez is the best designated hitter in the league, so certainly the best in this series.
Decision: Advantage Red Sox
Pitching
Here’s the projected starters for this current weekend series.
Michael King (2.86 ERA) vs Nathan Eovaldi (4.01 ERA)
Jameson Taillon (5.01 ERA) vs Eduardo Rodriguez (5.64 ERA)
Domingo German (3.27 ERA) vs Garrett Richards (3.75 ERA)
While German vs Richards will be a close game, two wins for the Red Sox should be expected from these matchups.
Decision: Advantage Red Sox
In Summary
Based on that scoring, the Red Sox are an 8-3-1 favorite in this series. Therefore, theoretically, they should win this Red Sox-Yankees series. Having said that, remember that this is baseball. Anything can happen, and the home advantage in favor of the Yankees will come into play on more than one occasion. Either way, this Red Sox-Yankees series will be an enjoyable weekend.
If you’re seeking a companion for this series opener Friday night, check out the Pesky Report, a Belly Up Sports Podcast. They’ll be reacting to this game and so much more.
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