Down to the Wire

The Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays are taking the American League Eastern Division race down to the final weekend of the regular season. Last night, the Yankees closed a 3-game home series with the Chicago White Sox.

Carlos Rodón started for the Yankees, and was far from his best. He went 6 innings, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits and 1 walk, striking out 5. The bullpen shut the Pale House out the rest of the way: Luke Weaver in the 7th inning, Devin Williams in the 8th, David Bednar in the 9th.

But they needed runs, too. 1st inning: Trent Grisham led off with a single, Aaron Judge doubled, Cody Bellinger walked to lead the bases with nobody out. And they only got 1 run out of it, on a groundout by Ben Rice. Giancarlo Stanton then struck out, and Jazz Chisholm grounded out. This looked like it might come back to haunt them.

5th inning: With 1 out, Judge singled, Bellinger singled, Rice drew a walk, and Stanton cleared the bases with a double, turning a 3-1 ChiSox lead to a 4-3 Yankee lead.

7th inning: Stanton led off with a walk. Jasson Domínguez pinch-ran for him. Chisholm grounded out, moving Domínguez over. Austin Wells doubled him home. 5-3. Yankees.

That was the final. Rodón moved to 18-9. Max Fried is 19-5, and should be given the AL's Cy Young Award, although the voters hate the Yankees, and will probably give it to Garret Crochet of the Boston Red Sox, who's 18-5. ERAs: Crochet 2.59, Fried 2.86, Rodón 3.09. Don't tell me Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers. Great pitcher, 2.21 ERA, but he's only 13-6. He doesn't deserve it this time. Nor does Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates: I don't care if he's at 1.97, a 10-10 pitcher doesn't deserve the Cy unless he's also got at least 35 saves.

Fried is 19-5. Rodón is 18-9. All other Yankee starters: Will Warren is 8-8, Clarke Schmidt is 4-4 and out for the season, Cam Schlittler came up late and went 3-3, Luis Gil came back from injury late and went 4-1, Marcus Stroman went 3-2 before getting released, Ryan Yarbrough went 3-1 before being sent to the bullpen, Carlos Carrasco went 2-2 before being waived, and, of course, Gerrit Cole missed the entire season with injury.

So, here's the rotation:

1. The Cole Slot, 13-11: Carrasco 2-2, Yarbrough 3-1, Warren 8-8.

2. The Fried Slot, 19-5: Fried, 19-5.

3. The Rodón Slot, 18-9: Rodón, 18-9.

4. The Schmidt Slot, 7-7: Schmidt 4-4, Schlittler 3-3.

5. The Gil Slot, 7-3: Stroman 3-2, Gil 4-1.

And, of course, you can finish filling the 4th and 5th slots with saves blown by the bullpen.

The Yankees go into the final series of the regular season, home to the Baltimore Orioles, in a flat-out tie for the Division lead with the Jays, who will host the Tampa Bay Rays. But because the Jays have the head-to-head edge, they're basically a game behind. The Jays merely have to match the Yankees' performance: If the Yankees sweep the O's, the Jays would have to sweep the Rays; if the Yankees go 2-1, the Jays would have to do the same; if the Yankees go 1-2, the Jays would only need to do that as well.

The O's are 75-84. Despite being in the same Division, the Yankees have only played 3 games against the O's this season, going 2-1. The Rays are 77-82. Their matchup with the Jays has also been played only 3 times thus far -- and the Rays are 2-1 against the Jays. Does either of those records mean anything? Maybe, maybe not.

The prospective starting pitchers for Yanks-O's, with all 3 games on the YES Network:

* Tonight, 7:05: Warren vs. Trevor Rogers. I am never confident with Warren on the mound, and Rogers is 9-2 with a 1.35 ERA. 

* Tomorrow, 1:05: Schlittler vs. Tomoyuki Sugano.

* Sunday, 3:05: Gil vs. Kyle Bradish.

The AL East is down to the wire. Come on you Pinstripes!