Tuesday night in the Bronx, the rival and open a three-game series at Yankee Stadium. As expected, the Yankees and Rays have been two of the best teams in baseball in early going, and they figure to compete for the AL East title right to the end of the regular season.Here are the updated AL East
Jim Bunning Jersey standings:Yankees: 16-6Rays: 14-9 (2.5 GB) : 12-10 (4 GB) : 8-11 (6.5 GB) : 6-17 (10.5 GB)Even though the first- and second-place finishers in each division will qualify for the postseason, only the first place team is a sured homefield advantage, and that's a pretty big deal even with empty stands. The Rays and especially the Yankees are built for their home ballparks and they want to sleep in their own beds as much as po sible in October.Here are the details for this week's three-game series at Yankee Stadium. Select games can be streamed regionally on (try for free). DateStart timePitchersTVTues., Aug. 187:05 p.m. ETRHP (0-0, 2.31) vs. LHP (1-0, 2.08)YES, Fox Sports Sun, ESPNWeds., Aug. 197:05 p.m. ETRHP (4-0, 2.76) vs. RHP (0-1, 7.04)YES, Fox Sports SunThurs., Aug. 201:05 p.m. ETLHP (1-1, 7.04) vs. TBAYES, Fox Sports Sun, Network (0-0, 5.93) started in place of the injured last Friday and lines up to start Thursday's game. He may get that start unle s he's needed in long relief behind Glasnow on Wednesday. If not Richards on Thursday, then an opener ( ?) with a bulk innings guy like or is a po sibility."Obviously they are a very good
Jim Thome Jersey team and we need to beat them to get to where we want to get to," Tanaka told reporters, , earlier this week. "Obviously that goes for every team around us but definitely they have become a good team. It's an important series for us.''Here are five things to know going into this week's three-game set in the Bronx, plus a prediction thrown in at the end.These two teams have bad bloodOver the last two years it's become clear the Yankees and Rays don't like each other. The bad blood dates back to Sept. 27, 2018, when threw at Rays catcher in retaliation for Rays righty throwing behind Yankees catcher . . and, even though Sabathia is now retired, the Yankees and Rays were barking at each other plenty last weekend at Tropicana Field. The benches didn't clear or anything, but the two teams were on each other all weekend. There are no crowds this year. Players can hear everything coming out of the other dugout.Here's what Rays center fielder recently told reporters, , about the bad blood between these two teams:"We have a little bit of history of chirping and certain things that have gone on in between the white lines," Kiermaier said
Andrew McCutchen Jersey Sunday on a Zoom video call. "I don't think they're the biggest fans of us, and vice versa."We all respect each other and what our talents are. But It's one of those things we love to beat them and they love beating us as well. There's some teams that you just get a little bit of greater satisfaction from, and I think that's very safe to say."I would bet against a brawl or something like that this week -- we are still in the middle of a global pandemic, after all -- but I would expect lots more trash talk. I love it. Give me all the drama you've got.The Rays lead the season seriesThe Yankees and Rays played four games in three days at Tropicana Field last weekend -- their schedules were reconfigured as a result of the and shutdowns because the Yankees had to play makeup games against Philadelphia -- and Tampa took three of four. Three of the four games were close:Fri., Aug. 7: TB 1, NYY 0 ( )Sat., Aug. 8 (Game 1): NYY 8, TB 4 in 7 innings
Cesar Hernandez Jersey ( )Sat., Aug. 8 (Game 2): TB 5, NYY 3 in 7 innings ( )Sun., Aug. 9: TB 4, NYY 3 ( )The Rays lead the season series and, even with the expanded postseason field, that's not insignificant. Winning the season series means holding the tiebreaker should the two teams finish tied in the standings. In that case the team that won the season series gets the division title (a suming they tie atop the division) and thus homefield advantage in the postseason.The Yankees and Rays will play three games at Yankee Stadium this week and then another three games at Yankee Stadium from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2. New York needs go at least 5-1 in those six games to win the season series over Tampa. They have to go 4-2 to tie the season series and bump it to the next tiebreaker (intradivision record). Tampa's in good tiebreaker position already.Yankees have been unbeatable at Yankee StadiumQuite literally this season. The Yankees are 10-1 at home this year but the one lo s was a "home" game played at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. The Yankees are a perfect 10-0 at Yankee Stadium this year and they've outscored their opponents 71-35 in those 10 games. This is tied for the longest unbeaten streak at Yankee Stadium to begin a season in franchise history:1951: 10-0 (finished 56-22 at home)1987: 10-0 (finished 51-30 at home)2020:10-01943: 8-0 (finished 54-23 at home)The Yankees lost their first three home series last season and are 24-0-3 in 27 home series since. It is the longest
Jorge Alfaro Jersey unbeaten home series streak in team history. Since Opening Day 2019, the Yankees-Rays rivalry has favored the home team. The home team has done well, including last weekend's series at Tropicana Field. Here are the head-to-head records at each ballpark since last season:Tropicana Field: Rays are 8-5 with a plus-1 run differentialYankee Stadium: Yankees are 8-2 with a plus-37 run differentialThe Yankees have been better against the Rays at Yankee Stadium than the Rays have been against the Yankees at Tropicana Field, but the home team typically has the advantage. That bodes well for the Yankees not only this week, but when these two teams finish their season series. That three-game set will be played in the Bronx as well. The Yankees are beat up NYY RF #99 BA0.290R16HR9RBI20SB0 Within the last 10 days the Yankees have lost their three best hitters to injury. went down with a hamstring strain i sue on Aug. 8, was sidelined by a calf strain in the middle of last week, and suffered a thumb injury this past Saturday. All three are on the injured list and all three were off to incredible starts:Judge: .290/.343/.758 and 1.3 WAR in 17 gamesLeMahieu: .411/.456/.534 and 1.0 WAR in 19 gamesStanton: .293/.453/.585 and 0.5 WAR in 14 gamesAt the time of their injuries, Judge was leading the league in home runs and slugging percentage, and LeMahieu was leading the league in batting average and on-base percentage. That's an awful lot of production on the injured list. Judge is expected back this coming weekend. LeMahieu and Stanton are both 2-3 weeks away.Of course,
Sean Rodriguez Jersey injuries are nothing new for the Yankees. They pla