The Boston Red Sox will visit the New York Yankees looking to take the Yankees out of first place in the AL East.
The Red Sox won’t make the playoffs but they’ll love to play spoiler against the Yankees. Will they do it in this weekend series?
Let’s see what the MLB odds tell us at the top US-licensed sportsbooks!
What You Should Know
The Boston Red Sox might not be playing in the playoffs this season. But they’ll do whatever it takes to knock the New York Yankees out of the AL East. The Yankees have a 5.5-game lead at the time of writing this.
However, a four-game sweep by the Red Sox would push the Yankees a bit closer to losing the lead in the American League East.
The rivalry is in full force heading into Thursday. Here’s a preview of the series with the probable pitchers for each game.
Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees: Game 1
Thursday, September 22, 2022 – 07:15 PM EDT at Citizens Bank Park
Thursday’s Probables
Yankees Pitching
The Yankees will start Gerrit Cole for Game 1 of the series. He was also announced as the Game 1 starter for the playoffs earlier this week.
Cole has a 3.31 xFIP over the last 30 days with 36.7% of strikeouts. He’s also limited line drives despite giving up a lot of power to both sides of the plate. It’s still hard for hitters to get on base against Cole.
Red Sox Pitching
Cole will face Michael Wacha on Thursday. Wacha has a 4.07 xFIP with high strikeouts and low walks.
The veteran has been a major surprise this year and continues to pitch consistent baseball.
Lefties still have a .255 ISO against Wacha through their last 52 plate appearances.
Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees: Game 2
Friday, September 23, 2022 – 07:05 PM EDT at Citizens Bank Park
Friday’s Probables
Yankees Pitching
In the second game of the series, Jameson Taillon will get the start for the Yankees. He’s holding an xFIP near 5 and has struck out just 18.3% of batters over the last month. Taillon isn’t going to get a high amount of grounders but he’s limited hard contact, which is still really good.
Righties, however, have hit a .363 wOBA and ISO of .271 over their last 50 plate appearances against righties.
Red Sox Pitching
Against Taillon will be Rich Hill. He’s a lefty with a 4.24 xFIP over the last 30 days. He’s getting over 45% of grounders and keeping line drives under 20%.
He’s had trouble against lefties, but other than that, Hill’s been consistently good.
Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees: Game 3
Saturday, September 24, 2022 – 01:05 PM EDT at Citizens Bank Park
Saturday’s Probables
Yankees Pitching
In the third game of the series, Domingo German will get the start. He also has an xFIP nearing 5 with low strikeouts. However, his BABIP is at .212 while he’s kept line drives down.
German has also limited wOBA and ISO against both sides of the plate and looks good in that regard.
Red Sox Pitching
Nick Pivetta will pitch for the Red Sox, with a 5.28 xFIP over the last 30 days.
The right-hander has had low strikeouts and high walks in that time frame. He’s allowing a ton of power to both sides and a high wOBA to both sides as well.
Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees: Game 4
Sunday, September 25, 2022 – 07:08 PM EDT at Citizens Bank Park
Sunday’s Probables
Yankees Pitching
Nestor Cortes will be the only lefty for the Yankees and he’ll pitch in the finale of the series on Sunday night. Cortes has a 4.82 xFIP over the last 30 days and also doesn’t induce a high amount of grounders.
However, he’s been terrific against righties, holding teams to a .192 wOBA and ISO of .043 over his last 48 plate appearances against righties.
Red Sox Pitching
Finally, rookie pitcher Bryan Bello will get the Sunday start. He’s got a 3.78 xFIP over the last 30 days and has struck out over 24% of batters.
He’s also inducing over 50% of ground balls, which is great for the rookie.
The Offenses
New York Yankees
Against righties, the Yankees are hitting a .329 wOBA. Anthony Rizzo is back in the lineup along with Giancarlo Stanton.
Aaron Judge finally has protection and he’s hitting absolute bombs because of it.
Although Judge has been worse against lefties, he’s still hitting a wOBA of .412. Rizzo has chipped in with a .657 wOBA since returning. Josh Donaldson is also much better against lefties along with Oswaldo Cabrera.
Boston Red Sox
Meanwhile, Boston isn’t producing consistently offensively.
Against righties, only Xander Bogaerts and Reese McGuire have above-average numbers. Bogaerts is also hot against lefties along with Christian Arroyo, and Kike Hernandez.
However, guys like Tommy Pham, Rafael Devers, Alex Verdugo, and JD Martinez are not hitting consistently right now.
Final Prediction
I like the Yankees to sneak away with three against the Red Sox, at home.
