When & Where To Watch
Tonight: Coverage on YES & the YES App begins at 9:00 with the Pregame Show
Tomorrow: Coverage on YES & the YES App begins at 8:30 p.m. with Yankees Batting Practice Today
Sunday: Coverage on YES & the YES App begins at 3:00 p.m. with Yankees Batting Practice Today
Pinstriped Pulse
Owners of the American League’s best record at 35-17, the Yankees head into Memorial Day Weekend – traditionally the first significant marker of the MLB season – three games ahead of Baltimore for first place in the AL East. The Yanks are starting a nine-game west coast road trip that starts with three in San Diego, where a host of familiar faces will reunite with old friends including Juan Soto who, along with Trent Grisham, is going to see the Padres for the first time since they and the Yanks got together on the blockbuster Soto trade. Batting .312 with 13 homers, 41 RBI this season, Soto has two multi-homer games in his last six. Anthony Volpe owns a .329 average during a 16-game hitting streak, the longest by a Yankee since 2018. Six of Alex Verdugo’s 12 hits since May 14 have gone for extra bases. Tommy Kahnle made his season debut Wednesday, returning from right shoulder inflammation, and it is possible that DJ LeMahieu could rejoin the team during its next series at the Angels.
How ‘Bout That
Aaron Judge is on fire right now, batting .433 with nine home runs over his last 18 games. He also just put together the kind of run seen only a few times in the Yankees’ storied history. From April 27 through Thursday, Judge became the fourth player in club history to have a 24-game stretch with a .500 on-base percentage, at least 10 doubles and at least 10 homers. The others? A trio of icons, Babe Ruth, who did so three times, Lou Gehrig in 1936 and Joe DiMaggio in 1937.
Know The Foe
The 27-26 Padres are second in the National League West, although their 6.5 game deficit behind the first-place Dodgers is the largest in the Majors for any second-place team in their division. San Diego’s roster features six ex-Yankees including three acquired in the Soto trade: Kyle Higashioka, Michael King and Jhony Brito. Donovan Solano, Tyler Wade and Wandy Peralta make up the rest of the group, plus another piece of the Soto deal, Randy Vásquez, is in the Minors. Two-time batting champion Luis Arraez is batting .419 in 17 games since being acquired from the Marlins and enters this series off back-to-back four-hit games. A lifetime .239 hitter in close to one thousand MLB games going into this year, Jurickson Profar has a .337 season average, and his seven home runs are third on the team behind the eight of Jake Cronenworth and Fernando Tatis Jr. Manny Machado is batting just .230 with five homers. Closer Robert Suarez has been close to perfect, allowing a single run in 22.1 innings on the season while converting all 14 of his save opportunities. Xander Bogaerts is out of action after fracturing his left shoulder Monday.
Probable Pitchers
Carlos Rodón will start tonight’s series opener opposite Yu Darvish, who in his last start became only the third Japanese-born pitcher to ever win 200 games combined in MLB and Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, joining former Yankee Hiroki Kuroda (203) and a pitcher who was briefly in the Yankees organization, Hideo Nomo (201). Darvish has also not been scored upon over his last four starts, a span of 24.0 innings. Marcus Stroman and Dylan Cease are scheduled to work tomorrow. Clarke Schmidt and Joe Musgrove are lined up for the series finale; Musgrove’s ERA is 6.14, fourth-worst in the Majors among pitchers who have worked at least 40.0 innings.
Looking Ahead to Los Angeles
After they visit two NL West teams on their current road trip, the Yankees will host one on their next homestand when Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and the Dodgers make the trip to the Bronx for three huge games! With so many big names on each side including a handful of players who could wind up in the Hall of Fame down the road, you won’t want to miss any of the action. YES & the YES App are going to have coverage of the series opener Friday, June 7 starting at 6:00 p.m. with a special one-hour Pregame Show from the Stadium.
The Story Of My Number
A new show featuring some of your favorite Yankees greats is streaming now on the YES App! Hosted by Gracie Cashman, The Story of My Number presented by New York Lottery showcases pinstriped icons talking about their lives on and off the field through the prism of numbers. The latest episode featuring Andy Pettitte was released yesterday, joining previous editions featuring Aaron Boone and Tino Martinez that are also currently available. Future episodes will focus on Don Mattingly, Nick Swisher and CC Sabathia.