Yankees Will Leave Sox Bleeding Red in ALDS Game Four on Tuesday
The Yankees host the Red Sox on Tuesday at 8:07 ET on TBS. The Yankees are primed to show that it doesn’t matter which team had the better regular season record.
Game 4: Boston at New York Yankees
Tuesday, 8:07 ET (TBS)
MLB Pick: Yankees
New York’s C.C. Sabathia (9-7, 3.65 ERA) concluded the regular season with superb form, yielding an FIP (like ERA, but factors out luck) under 3.00 in eight of his last nine outings. Sabathia is ready to translate his regular season form into strong postseason outings because of his experience. He’s endured 126.1 postseason innings, yielding a 4.20 ERA. His postseason ERA is high because he struggled several years ago. But in 2017, his postseason ERA was 2.37 in four starts.
The veteran southpaw Sabathia doesn’t have the velocity that he used to. Instead, he’s crowned himself the king of soft contact. He relies on a cutter-slider combo. Both pitches comprise 73 percent of his arsenal. His cutter mixes moderate dip with slight glove-side movement. HIs slider is pure, meaning that it basically lacks vertical movement, so that batters struggle to track its movement. Instead, it boasts strong glove-side motion that makes it elusive. Sabathia is great at inducing soft contact because he combines the movement of his pitches with good location. His five most frequent pitch locations are on the furthest-left (from his perspective) or lowest border of the zone. The movement of his two favorite pitches, for example, allows him to toy with the batter’s perception of whether the pitch will land for a strike or ball. As a result, the batter often swings at a pitch that he shouldn’t have and thereby creates soft contact for an out. The batter is further deceived by the fact that Sabathia makes the vertical and horizontal release points of his pitches similar to each other, thereby masking which pitch is leaving his hand, so that the batter struggles to adjust his swing to the unique movement and good location of the pitch.
Boston batters managed only one run in seven innings when they last saw him on June 29 in the Bronx. The lineup often flies or dies with top slugger J.D. Martinez. But he’s 2-for-14 against Sabathia. Boston has been an immensely profitable team this year. But against lefties they merely yield +1.1 units, compared to +30.5 against righties.
The Yankees’ elite bullpen has conceded one run in 10 innings in this series so far. It boasts the fourth-best bullpen with an ERA .34 lower than Boston’s. Watch for Chad Green, David Robertson, and Aroldis Chapman who have combined for six shutout innings. The dominance of Green and Chapman should come as no surprise given their strong finish to the regular season.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="de"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Don't be afraid to get loud. The Judge will allow it. <a href="https://t.co/WUcwX6YzF8">pic.twitter.com/WUcwX6YzF8</a></p>— New York Yankees (@Yankees) <a href=" ">7. Oktober 2018</a></blockquote>
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Boston starter Rick Porcello has cultivated awesome numbers against the Yanks this season, but they couldn’t be more misleading. He does well against them at home, but is awful in Yankee Stadium. He only faced New York once in the Bronx and conceded five runs in 5.1 innings. In seven career starts in the Bronx, he’s 1-4 with a 5.56 ERA. Porcello can’t handle the pressure of postseason, either. In 25.1 career postseason innings, his ERA is 5.33. He’s lasted more than three innings three times and conceded at least four runs in two of those starts.
Yankee hitters carry the advantage against both Porcello and Boston’s bullpen. Miguel Andujar and Aaron Judge slug at least .500 against Porcello. Judge is destroying every Boston pitcher, anyways, producing an insane .583 BA and 1.417 slugging. Brett Gardner also bats .293 against Porcello. The Yankees took two out of three in all three regular season home series.
The Yankees host the Red Sox on Tuesday at 8:07 ET on TBS. The Yankees are primed to show that it doesn’t matter which team had the better regular season record.
Game 4: Boston at New York Yankees
Tuesday, 8:07 ET (TBS)
MLB Pick: Yankees
New York’s C.C. Sabathia (9-7, 3.65 ERA) concluded the regular season with superb form, yielding an FIP (like ERA, but factors out luck) under 3.00 in eight of his last nine outings. Sabathia is ready to translate his regular season form into strong postseason outings because of his experience. He’s endured 126.1 postseason innings, yielding a 4.20 ERA. His postseason ERA is high because he struggled several years ago. But in 2017, his postseason ERA was 2.37 in four starts.
The veteran southpaw Sabathia doesn’t have the velocity that he used to. Instead, he’s crowned himself the king of soft contact. He relies on a cutter-slider combo. Both pitches comprise 73 percent of his arsenal. His cutter mixes moderate dip with slight glove-side movement. HIs slider is pure, meaning that it basically lacks vertical movement, so that batters struggle to track its movement. Instead, it boasts strong glove-side motion that makes it elusive. Sabathia is great at inducing soft contact because he combines the movement of his pitches with good location. His five most frequent pitch locations are on the furthest-left (from his perspective) or lowest border of the zone. The movement of his two favorite pitches, for example, allows him to toy with the batter’s perception of whether the pitch will land for a strike or ball. As a result, the batter often swings at a pitch that he shouldn’t have and thereby creates soft contact for an out. The batter is further deceived by the fact that Sabathia makes the vertical and horizontal release points of his pitches similar to each other, thereby masking which pitch is leaving his hand, so that the batter struggles to adjust his swing to the unique movement and good location of the pitch.
Boston batters managed only one run in seven innings when they last saw him on June 29 in the Bronx. The lineup often flies or dies with top slugger J.D. Martinez. But he’s 2-for-14 against Sabathia. Boston has been an immensely profitable team this year. But against lefties they merely yield +1.1 units, compared to +30.5 against righties.
The Yankees’ elite bullpen has conceded one run in 10 innings in this series so far. It boasts the fourth-best bullpen with an ERA .34 lower than Boston’s. Watch for Chad Green, David Robertson, and Aroldis Chapman who have combined for six shutout innings. The dominance of Green and Chapman should come as no surprise given their strong finish to the regular season.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="de"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Don't be afraid to get loud. The Judge will allow it. <a href="https://t.co/WUcwX6YzF8">pic.twitter.com/WUcwX6YzF8</a></p>— New York Yankees (@Yankees) <a href=" ">7. Oktober 2018</a></blockquote>
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Boston starter Rick Porcello has cultivated awesome numbers against the Yanks this season, but they couldn’t be more misleading. He does well against them at home, but is awful in Yankee Stadium. He only faced New York once in the Bronx and conceded five runs in 5.1 innings. In seven career starts in the Bronx, he’s 1-4 with a 5.56 ERA. Porcello can’t handle the pressure of postseason, either. In 25.1 career postseason innings, his ERA is 5.33. He’s lasted more than three innings three times and conceded at least four runs in two of those starts.
Yankee hitters carry the advantage against both Porcello and Boston’s bullpen. Miguel Andujar and Aaron Judge slug at least .500 against Porcello. Judge is destroying every Boston pitcher, anyways, producing an insane .583 BA and 1.417 slugging. Brett Gardner also bats .293 against Porcello. The Yankees took two out of three in all three regular season home series.
