5 things to watch as Yankees face Tigers in three-game series at Yankee Stadium
Here are five things to watch as the Yankees and Detroit Tigers play a three-game series at Yankee Stadium starting on Friday...
Reverse offensive outage
The Yankees' offense has been bad of late. After putting up back-to-back 15-run performances against the Brewers last weekend, they came into Baltimore to take on their rival Orioles in a four-game series.
How did the Yankees follow-up that performance? Not well.
In the four games, the Yankees scored just six runs, the fewest they've scored in a four-game series since 2014, also against Baltimore. They scored no more than two runs in each of the four games, the first time they averaged fewer than three runs in a series since 2008 against the Rays.
Yes, Baltimore is very good but its pitching — especially the starters, aside from Corbin Burnes — is not a gathering of All-Stars. The Yankees offense will need to pick up against Detroit if they hope to get back on track.
Lineup changes?
Speaking of offense, this may be the series where manager Aaron Boone decides to shake up the lineup a bit. He did so earlier in the season when he decided to bat Anthony Volpe leadoff and it worked for awhile, but something more drastic may need to happen.
Would Boone move Aaron Judge out of the No. 3 hole? Perhaps flip-flopping Juan Soto and Judge to give the former AL MVP some better looks? Boone did not want to discuss that possibility after the Orioles' series concluded.
“Somebody’s going to pay, big time,” Boone said. “[Judge will] get it going, and look out when he does.”
Perhaps he will, but something needs to change. We'll see if it happens this weekend.
Gleyber Torres finds his power
One promising sign from the Orioles series was Torres picking up his first home run of the season.
It took the infielder more than 120 at-bats this season to finally go yard, and while it didn't come in a winning effort, the Yankees are glad to see it. It's been a rough early start to the 2024 season for Torres, who is in his walk year. After being at the top of nearly every offensive category for second baseman a year ago, the 27-year-old is slashing just .218/.295/.274.
However, Torres has picked it up of late. In his last seven games, he's 8-for-30 with the one home run and five RBI.
His defensive lapses are still frustrating, and he needs to clean it up, but perhaps if his bat heats up it won't bring down his defense.
Juan Soto playing like an MVP
The baseball world knew Soto is good, but what he's doing for the Yankees in his first season is something else. Not only is he slashing .331/.441/.589 but he leads the team with eight home runs, 25 RBI and 26 walks.
In the Baltimore series, Soto batted .429 with the rest of the Yankees batting just .145. Where would the Yankees be without him? If he can continue his MVP-like stretch, the wins should follow.
Can Yankees figure out Tarik Skubal?
The Tigers' 27-year-old ace, Skubal is an early contender for AL Cy Young. In six games, the left-hander is 4-0 with a 1.72 ERA with 41 strikeouts across 36.2 innings.
The Yankees are scheduled to go up against him this weekend, likely Sunday, and the series may come down to that game. New York did a great job of getting to Orioles ace Corbin Burnes in their one way of the series — mostly thanks to Luis Gil's pitching — but they'll have to do it again with Skubal.
Among the Yankees regulars, Judge is 3-for-8 with a home run in his career against Skubal. Giancarlo Stanton is 2-for-7 and Alex Verdugo — a lefty — is a surprising 4-for-8 with two RBI against the southpaw.
Soto has not had an at-bat against the young hurler. That will change this weekend.
