Series Preview: Rays vs Yankees
Thirty-one games down, one-hundred thirty-one to go
The good feelings of the Tampa Bay Rays west coast trip evaporated in hurry as they were swept by the Kansas City Royals and now travel up north to face the division leading New York Yankees. The Rays are now 14-17 and in 4th place in the division, four games back of the Yankees, who are 18-13.
New York is of course led by Aaron Judge, who is off to an other worldly start. The 33-year old outfielder already has 10 HR and is hitting .427/.521/.761 registering a 262 wRC+ and 3.2 fWAR over 140 plate appearances.
The Yankees have other players that have complimented Judge’s prolific performance: Trent Grisham (187 wRC+ | 1.0 fWAR), Ben Rice (173 wRC+ | 1.1 fWAR), & Paul Gold Schmidt (153 wRC+ | 09 fWAR), and several others; only one position player on their roster this year has performed below replacement level.
Max Fried has been fantastic and is an early season front runner for the American League Cy Young award while the rest of the Yankees pitching has been a mixed bag. The bullpen has been shaky and the most reliable arm in the bullpen is Fernando Cruz, who is a strikeout machine.
Frivolities
The top players by career WAR to have played for the Rays and Yankees:
- Wade Boggs
- Johnny Damon
- Dwight Gooden
- Tino Martinez
- Jose Canseco
The Rays best player offensively against the Yankees all-time (min. 25 PA):
Eduardo Perez: .286/.483/.905 with 4 HR over 29 PA
GAME ONE
Friday, May 2nd
7:05 PM EDT
RHP Ryan Pepiot vs LHP Max Fried
GAME TWO
Saturday, May 3rd
1:05 PM EDT
RHP Zack Littell vs RHP Clarke Schmidt
GAME THREE
Sunday, May 4th
1:35 PM EDT
RHP Taj Bradley vs RHP Will Warren