Blake Daniels, September 25, 2018

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The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays play Game 2 of their current four game set on Tuesday, September 25th in Florida.

The Yankees beat the Rays 4-1 in Monday’s series opener and with that victory, they eliminated Tampa Bay while giving the Oakland A’s a postseason berth. Although Oakland is still alive in the American League West race, the A’s are likely the Yankees’ wild card opponent.

Best Record Since 2011

At 96-60, the Yankees assured themselves of their best record since 2011. But not only did the Yankees lose the divisional race to their rival Boston Red Sox, they may have also lost Didi Gregorius for the rest of the season with a cartilage tear in his right wrist. On Monday, the Yankees also saw Aaron Hicks leave the game with hamstring soreness. But the show must go on.

In his last assignment for the Yankees, Severino picked up the win as the Yankees beat the Red Sox 10-1 last September 19th. The right hander allowed just one run on six hits and one walk with six strikeouts in seven innings of work. Severino only allowed one extra base hit which turned into the only run scored against him.

The win was Severino’s first for the month after he went 0-2 in his first two starts for September. It was also the first time since August 8th that he pitched for at least seven innings. Severino has allowed just two runs in 12.2 innings across his last two starts. He looks to carry that momentum on Tuesday.

A Surprising Season

Despite getting booted out of playoff contention, the Rays this is still a surprising season for Tampa Bay whose $70M 40 man payroll is the lowest in the league this season. At 87-69, they are just three wins away from their first 90 win season since 2013. The Rays are 84-57 after opening the season at 3-12. With a milestone still to play for, expect the Rays to give this a good fight.

Tampa Bay will start the game with Jake Faria on top of the mound. The 25 year old right handed pitcher has appeared in a total of 16 games this season including 11 starts. The La Palma, California native has posted a season record of 4-3 with an ERA of 5.17 and a WHIP of 1.40.

While he’s struggled to pitch on the road with a 1-2 record and a 6.31 ERA in nine appearances, Faria has hurled the ball well at Tropicana Field. In seven appearances ( five of which were starts) at their home field, the second year pitcher has a record of 3-1 with an ERA of 3.67.

Who Wins?

The season series between these teams is tied at 8 apiece with three more games to play. They have split their last six games at 3-3. New York has won five out of their last seven games overall but have struggled against the Rays as of late, going 3-8 in their last 11 head to head games, 2-6 SU in their last 8 games in Tampa Bay.

Tampa Bay has gone 15-3 SU in their last 18 games at home and 6-2 in their last 8 games at home when playing against the Yankees. Severino has struggled lately for the Yankees but if his last outing was any indication, he may be out of his slump. Meanwhile, Faria hasn’t pitched much for the Rays as of late and although he has pitched well at home with the limited appearance that he’ had, Severino has the clear edge in this match-up .

The Yankees will be without Didi Gregorius and probably without Aaron Hicks too. But they have more than enough on offense to pull of this road win over the Rays. Prediction: New York Yankees