Cy Young Candidate Battle In New York

Rays vs. Yankees, 7:05 ET

Alright, I'll bite. You give me a pitching matchup like this in the middle of the week, I'll not only watch, but I'll be betting on the game as well. Look, even if Shane McClanahan and Gerrit Cole weren't pitching in this one, it would be worth watching. On one side, we get the Rays, a team that was once a lock for the division that is now struggling, and the other we have the Yankees who are getting healthy, but it might be too little too late.

The Rays are more than 20 games over .500, but take out that first 13 games and they are closer to the Yankees record than most Tampa Bay fans would want to admit. Okay, sorry, I know there aren't really any Tampa Bay fans, but you get my point. The Rays have been average for most of the season, and they were terrible in July. How bad, essentially they were on par with the Pirates and White Sox in July. That's embarrassing. They need to start stringing together some series victories in order to get their mojo back. They should still make the playoffs, and it would be embarrassing if they somehow fell out of a Wild Card spot, but like they say you can't win a division or make the playoffs in April. Today they get their Ace McClanahan to take the pill against the Bronx Bombers. He made just three starts in July but saw his ERA increase in all three of the outings. Only one start was particularly poor, but the Rays went 1-2 in his three outings. Now he faces the Yankees for the second time this season. In his first game, he went just four innings and allowed four earned runs. Having seen him so many times, the Yankees aren't great against him, but they aren't terrible either.

BOSTON, MA - SEPTEMBER 08: Shane McClanahan #62 of the Tampa Bay Rays pitches in the first inning of a game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on September 8, 2021 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)

The Yankees are slowly but surely getting back to full health. Any time you can add Aaron Judge to your roster, you have to assume that you're going to improve overall. Their manager kind of mentioned they can't just run him into the ground and I tend to agree with them. This isn't a season where you want to wear the guy out if you're not even sure you'll make the playoffs. The thing is, their team is underperforming. The hitters just haven't been up to the challenge this year. Sure, there are some guys that seem to be doing well, but collectively, the team just isn't that good. The trade deadline seemed like something where they were uncertain on if they wanted to keep going this season, or if they wanted to look ahead to the future. It was just strange. Tonight though, they can focus on the Rays and they have the comfort of having Cole on the mound. Cole is 9-2 with a 2.64 ERA for the season. He continues to be a bright spot for the Yankees this year and only allowed eight earned runs over 32.2 innings in July. This will be his third start against the Rays this season and he went five innings in both starts. One he allowed five earned runs (a road start) and one he allowed two (a home start). He has shown a lot of success against the Rays hitters in the past, but he is hittable.

The annual Cy Young candidates are probably going to have the edge in this game. Both pitchers are very talented, and both bullpens are decent enough to keep the score low. Of course, this season has been a bit random, so we could see an offensive explosion, but I'll play the under 8.5 in this one and hope we can get a final score of 3-1 or something.

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