Yankees vs. Dodgers: What to know with Aaron Judge facing Yoshinobu Yamamoto in potential World Series preview

On Friday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees, baseball’s two premier franchises, open a three-game series at Yankee Stadium. It’s a possible preview of the World Series, although October is still a long way off. However, it is a matchup between two of the best teams in baseball. Here is the top of the league standings:

1. New York Yankees: 45-19
2. Philadelphia Phillies: 44-19 (0.5GB)
3. Cleveland Guardians: 40-21 (3GB)
4. Baltimore Orioles: 39-22 (4.5GB)
5. Los Angeles Dodgers: 39-25 (6GB)

The Yankees visited Dodger Stadium in 2019 and 2023 and won two of the three times. This will be the first time the Dodgers have visited Yankee Stadium since September 2016, however. This was back when Corey Seager was still wearing Dodgers blue and Aaron Judge was just a month into his major league career. The Dodgers have won two of three in that series.

“It’s going to be an incredible atmosphere,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Thursday (via New York Daily News). “We’ve been twice since I was in Los Angeles over the summer, and it was really cool to go to Dodger Stadium and see that matchup and the buzz around it. maybe more. I would expect it to be a very special environment.”

New York brings an eight-game winning streak into Friday’s series opener. Here are the details on the Dodgers vs. Dodgers series. Yankees this weekend in the Bronx. Select games can be streamed on fuboTV (Try for free).

Friday’s game will be available on YES Network and SportsNet LA, in addition to Apple TV+. The Yankees and Dodgers will have their own broadcasts for the series opener. You can still watch on Apple TV+ if you want – Apple’s image is very sharp – but you’re not limited to that. There will be local broadcasts as well.

Poteet is in the rotation because Clarke Schmidt fell with one last tension last week. Gil is in the rotation because reigning AL Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole has a nerve issue with his elbow and is out of this world. Rookie right-hander beat AL Pitcher It is The Rookie of the Month is honored in May and has allowed three total runs in his last seven starts.

The Dodgers aren’t at full strength either, of course. Bobby Miller has been sidelined since the second week of April due to shoulder inflammation, and Tony Gonsolin (Tommy John), Clayton Kershaw (shoulder) and Dustin May (flexor) are recovering from last year’s surgeries. Stone earned a rotation spot in spring training and has been very good, especially lately.

Here are five things you should know ahead of the Dodgers vs. Dodgers series. This weekend’s Yankees, plus a prediction.

These two franchises have a long history

Dodgers vs. Yankees is the most common World Series matchup in baseball history, even though the two teams haven’t met in the Fall Classic in more than four decades. Here is the history of the World Series, which features several iconic moments:

• 1941: Yankees win 4-1
• 1947: Yankees win 4-3
• 1949: Yankees win 4-1
• 1952: Yankees win 4-3
• 1953: The Yankees win 4-1 (at age 25, Vin Scully becomes the youngest World Series announcer ever)
• 1955: Dodgers win 4-3 (Jackie Robinson steals home in Game 1)
• 1956: The Yankees win 4-3 (Don Larsen throws a perfect game in Game 5)
• 1963: Dodgers win 4-0
• 1977: Yankees win 4-2 (Reggie Jackson hits three home runs in Game 6)
• 1978: Yankees win 4-2
• 1981: Dodgers win 4-2

As for interleague play, the Yankees lead the all-time regular season series 10–9, and have alternated wins and losses since their first interleague game on June 18, 2004. Two Yankees fan favorites started that game : Javier Vázquez x Jeff Weaver. If the pattern of alternating wins and losses continues, the Dodgers will win two of three this weekend.

This will be the third time the Dodgers have visited the Bronx during an interleague game (also in 2013 and 2016). The Dodgers never played at the old Yankee Stadium during interleague games, which is a shame. If the 2016 series at Yankee Stadium is any indication, the crowd will be electrifying and split nearly 50/50 this weekend. It must be a blast.

The top of each order is amazing

By FanGraphs WAR, this weekend’s series will feature six of the nine best players in baseball this season: Aaron Judge (No. 1), Juan Soto (No. 2), Mookie Betts (No. 5), Shohei Ohtani (No. 7), Anthony Volpe (No. #8) and Will Smith (#9). Freddie Freeman is in 22nd position. He’s really been relaxing this year (I kid, I kid).

Since the second week of the season, the Yankees have regularly landed Volpe, Soto and Judge at the top of their lineup, in that order. The Dodgers stuck with Betts, Ohtani and Freeman in the 1-2-3 positions all year, again in that order. The combined numbers of these trios are simply incredible:

Smith hits cleanup behind the big three and owns a slash line of .299/.364/.512 with nine homers this year. He’s been great. The Yankees don’t have anyone putting up numbers like that behind their Big Three, although Giancarlo Stanton has provided plenty of power (15 home runs) and Alex Verdugo has created an avalanche of big hits (.297/.357/). 622 in high leverage positions).

It’s fair to say that the Dodgers and Yankees have top-heavy lineups, although that’s a compliment to their incredible 1-2-3 slots and not a criticism of everyone else. The Yankees and Dodgers meeting star-studded lineups just seems right, you know?

Judge and Volpe have long streaks at the plate

In fact, corresponding to sequences of 32 games at the base. They are the two longest on-base streaks in baseball this season, active or not, and are the first set of teammates with simultaneous 30-game on-base streaks in two decades. Here are the teammates with the longest concurrent streaks on base in the Expansion Era (since 1961):

Judge started the season very slowly, so much so that he was booed on his own bobblehead day, but he’s been agitated for the last six weeks or so. He now leads baseball in slugging percentage (.658), OPS (1.080), home runs (21), extra-base hits (41), total bases (150), walks (52), and so on. Once again, Judge is the most dangerous hitter in the game.

As for Volpe, he had a disappointing rookie season a year ago, which led to an overhaul of his swing in the offseason. This led to a sophomore season that justifies the hype and potential top ratings. Judge and Soto have been great and were expected to be great. Volpe’s emergence helped the Yankees rise to the top of the league standings.

Soto left Thursday’s game injured

Soto’s status for this weekend’s series is unclear. He left Thursday’s game after a 56-minute rain delay with what the Yankees called discomfort in his left forearm.. After the game, Boone and Soto revealed that it’s something he’s been playing for the last week, and they didn’t want to send him back after the long delay. He will have tests on Friday.

“I actually just woke up one day and felt tightness and discomfort in my forearm. We’re working on it and trying to get away with it and it hasn’t gone away,” Soto said of the wound (via MLB.com). “…We all decided not to start warming up again after an hour of sitting here (after the delay). We didn’t want to risk anything like that, so we decided to stop.”

Soto’s absence this weekend would dampen some of the excitement, but more importantly, losing him for any period of time would be a devastating blow to a Yankees team that is more or less firing on all cylinders. He transformed the attack and is irreplaceable. The Yankees hope Friday’s tests don’t reveal anything serious and that Soto can return to the lineup before long.

Yamamoto has been great since Seoul

Yamamoto’s introduction to MLB did not go well. He drove in five runs in one inning against the San Diego Padres in the Seoul Series, and this ugly performance seems to have obscured how good he has been overall. That first start counts, for sure, but in his 11 starts since Seoul, Yamamoto has been one of the best pitchers in baseball.

This is where Yamamoto ranks among the 75 pitchers with enough innings to qualify for the ERA title since the Dodgers began the home portion of their schedule on March 28.

The Dodgers invested $325 million in Yamamoto because he’s only 25 years old and he’s also really, really good. He is the three-time MVP and Eiji Sawamura Award (Cy Young equivalent) winner in Japan, and despite a rough first start in Seoul, Yamamoto has been one of the league’s best pitchers as a rookie this year. It’s money well spent, so far.

The Yankees tried to sign Yamamoto, and their offer of $300 million for 10 years had a higher average annual value. Of course, it had a lower total value, and that’s usually what decides free agent bidding wars. Yamamoto landed in Los Angeles and it’s hard to say the Yankees are in bad shape without him. They are allowing just 3.17 runs per game, the fewest in baseball, 0.26 runs.

Prediction

Soto’s injury, even if it is short-term, changes the outlook of the series somewhat. I was prepared to say the Yankees would win two of three, specifically rallying to win the last two games after losing the Poteet-Yamamoto matchup. Even if Friday’s tests bring good news, the Yankees could sit Soto for a day or two to calm his forearm. In that case, I will say the Dodgers win two of three. They will win the first two games before Gil defeats Glasnow in the final to save things for New York.