AL East Battle for Supremacy 3 Game Series
The AL East is the most competitive division in baseball, though the records of the teams are not great. Though that is not the case for the Baltimore Orioles, who are in last place in the AL East. Many experts predicted that the Baltimore Orioles would win over one hundred games and the AL East, but they have disappointed. They are in last place in the AL East and fired their manager. Many of their young stars are having poor seasons. The Yankees themselves, in first place in the AL East, have been struggling recently and look to sweep the series at home against the Baltimore Orioles. This series will be on MASN. Are you planning on watching?
Pitching Matchups in AL East Showdown
The probable pitchers in the AL East battle between the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees mostly favor the Yankees. In the first game of the series, Max Fried will start against Tomoyuki Sugano. Sugano started against the Yankees in April and had eight strikeouts, a season high. Fried has been struggling a bit recently, but is unquestionably the ace of the Yankees. Fried sports a 9-2 record with a still sparkling 1.89 earned run average. Sugano is 5-4 with a 3.38 earned run average. Expect this to be a low-scoring game.
In the second game of this AL East showdown, the Yankees again have the pitching advantage. Then rapidly improving Clarke Schmidt, who has a 3-3 record, but a string 3,16 earned run average. He is coming off the second-best game he has ever pitched in the MLB. He has been improving after starting the season on the injured list with a bad back. He is opposed by Zach Eflin, who is 6-3 with a 4.81 earned run average.
The third game of this series pits Dean Kremer against Yankee youngster Will Warren. Warren, who has great movement on these pitches, set a career high with eleven in his last start. That said, he has been inconsistent this season. His statistics bear that out. He is 4-4 this season with a 4.83 earned run average. He is going to be opposed by Kremer. He has a 4.80 earned run average with a 6-7 record. Though their statistics are close, a slight edge goes to Warren. He has been great at times and very bad at other times. The Orioles are not a good-hitting team, surprisingly, so Warren should do well in this AL East showdown.
A Tale of Disappointment
This AL East showdown pits two disappointing teams. The Baltimore Orioles were forecast to win the division and one hundred games, but they have done neither. Right now, they are in last place in the AL East with a 31-42 record. They underperformed so badly that they fired their manager, and many of their young stars are having a bad year.
The Yankees, on the other hand, have been in first place in the division all season. However, they won yesterday, to avoid a seven-game losing streak, and they went an improbable thirty innings without scoring. They were shut out three games in a row. This was surprising because the team was offensively powerful, leading baseball in runs scored, or alternating with the Chicago Cubs. At any rate, the Yankees’ recent power outage has been a bit surprising.
Strange Times and Other Administrivia
The three games of this AL East showdown are strange. The game on Friday, June 20, is standard enough; it is at the usual Yankee Stadium weeknight start time of 7:05. The game on Saturday, June 21, is at 1:05 pm. It is going to be hot in the Bronx, so expect these balls to be flying out of Yankee Stadium. The game on Sunday, June 22, is a Roku game and starts at the strange time of 11:35 am.
Though the first game is on the MLB Network, and the last game is a Roku game, all of these games should be on the MASN network. The announcers on the MASN network are pretty good, but they favor the Orioles, and the fans of the Yankees are subjected to that. The games that are played by the Orioles are blacked out on other networks, typically, so it will be interesting to see on Sunday if the game is, in fact, on the Roku network.
Final Thoughts
The Yankees are supposed to get Luke Weaver back for this game. He was on the injured list with a hamstring strain, but worked hard to come back early. So, he is. It will be interesting to see what Yankee manager does with him concerning beleaguered Yankee closer Devin Williams. The Yankees should win at least two of the games in this AL East showdown. Let us see if they can.
