The Major League Baseball season is young, but the rivalry between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox is as old as any in the sport. The long-term feud resumes this week with a series in Boston after the two teams played in Yankee Stadium earlier in the month. Boston is in last place right now. That’s the bad news for the Red Sox. The good news is that they’re only 2.5 games out of first place in what is a very bunched-up American League East Division.
Series Preview: New York Yankees @ Boston Red So
Game 1: Tuesday, April 22
Odds: Red Sox -125
7:10 PM ET
The matchup here is going to gain a lot of national notice. Masahiro Tanaka is the starter for the Yankees. He was signed from Japan in a megabucks deal that represented New York’s big attempt to rebuild its pitching staff. Tanaka has not disappointed at all in the first three weeks of the season, posting a strong 2.05 ERA and establishing himself as a man who could yet become the ace of this year’s Yankee staff. Tanaka will be pitching in Fenway Park, and that could unnerve him as a pitcher, but on the other hand, he might be impervious to all the pressure of pitching in Boston’s home ballpark. Jon Lester is the starter for the Red Sox. He’s been very good in his own right, registering a 2.17 ERA. Call the pitching matchup even, but give an edge to the player who knows how to pitch in his home stadium. Take Boston here.
Pick: Boston
Game 2: Wednesday, April 23
7:05 PM ET
This is a matchup between a young and promising pitcher who is doing really well and an older, more established pitcher who is struggling. The Yankees will give the ball to starter Michael Pineda, the impressive young hurler from the Dominican Republic. Pineda’s ERA is just 1.00 right now. He’s come out of the gate throwing darts for New York, and that’s given a real lift to the Yankees. It’s a key reason the team is in first place just after Easter. Pineda will be opposed by Boston starter John Lackey. The man who won Game 7 of the 2002 World Series for the Los Angeles (then Anaheim) Angels against the San Francisco Giants, and who then helped Boston in the 2013 playoffs against both Detroit and St. Louis, has stumbled early this season. He has a 5.25 ERA and is trying to find his form. Until Lackey gets back on track, it seems wise to go with the Yankees here.
Pick: New York Yankees
Game 3: Thursday, April 24
7:10 PM ET
New York will put C.C. Sabathia on the bump for the finale of this series, while the Red Sox will counter with Felix Doubront. Sabathia has not been great this season, but he has shown progress in recent starts after looking overmatched in the first week and a half of the season. Sabathia’s on an upward curve in terms of his performances, while Doubront has been hit hard in a number of his starts and has a ways to go in terms of his development this season. Doubront is a back-end pitcher in a starting rotation, while Sabathia looks more like the front-end guy he’s been for most of his career. The Yankees are in a good position to win this game, given the pitching matchup. This is not something that would have been said two and a half weeks ago, however. It shows how much things can and do change.
Pick: New York Yankees
