The AL East-leading Toronto Blue Jays look to extend their advantage to a comfortable margin, as they welcome in the second-place New York Yankees for a three-game series starting on Monday.
Despite losing the last two of their set against Baltimore over the weekend, the Yankees sit just 1.5 games behind the Blue Jays heading into this pivotal meeting.
Toronto has hit an absolute skid the past two weeks or so. On June 6th, they were 38-24 and pacing the division with plenty of room. The Jays have proceeded to lose 11 of their last 15, losing most of their edge in the AL East as well.
Snapshot:
Home: Toronto Blue Jays (42-35, 20-17 home)
Away: New York Yankees (39-35, 22-17 away)
Key Stat:
5-1.
That's the Yankees' record against the Toronto Blue Jays this year. If the winning trend continues, the Bronx Bombers could find themselves in first place come the end of Wednesday's action.
Yankees Notes:
Do the Yankees need to acquire another starting pitcher? One unnamed AL executive seems to think so.
“Right now, they are dodging bullets" the executive said, via Joel Sherman of the New York Post. They have a lot of five- and six-inning guys, and they are about to negate the effectiveness of [Dellin] Betances and [Adam] Warren by leaning on them too much. They need to get on the board by adding a starter. Heck, I think they need two.”
With the Yankees within arm's reach of first place, don't count a trade or two out if Brian Cashman can find a partner to help bolster the rotation.
Blue Jays Notes:
A bad two weeks for the Toronto Blue Jays just got much worse on Sunday.
Not only did the Jays lose 4-3 to the Reds, but Cincinnati's Johnny Cueto hit third baseman Brett Lawrie on the hand with a pitch in the second inning - breaking Lawrie's thumb and sending him to the DL for anywhere from three-to-six weeks.
"Oh yeah, 100 percent," Lawrie said when asked if he was heading to the DL, per Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com. "I don't foresee me being ready in two days, I promise you that. Just one of those things, man."
"I don't even know [how long]. I'm still trying to take it all in. It's one of those things that's going to get better when it gets better. That's pretty much all I can say about it."
What to Watch For:
It's Blue Jays vs. Yankees with the AL East lead on the line...need any more convincing?
How about the simple fact that a Yankees team that had been written off just a month ago as too old and too injured to contend is contending...closing the gap between themselves and the Blue Jays at what seems like breakneck speed.
Then there's Toronto, who seemed to be in firm control of the division just two weeks ago and are now fighting for their lives in a clustered three-way pennant chase.
Blue Jays vs. Yankees. It's going to be a heck of a show.
What They're Saying About the Yankees:
Joe: Pearce's slide was a "malicious play" (NY Post)
Yankees offense fails to provide support to Tanaka (NY Daily News)
What They're Saying About the Blue Jays:
Lawrie will head to DL with fractured right finger (Official Site of the Blue Jays)
Bautista exits game with apparent leg injury (Camden Depot)
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