NYY @ OAK: Gerrit Cole vs. J.T. Ginn 

Yesterday at 09:10 PM

The Yankees kick off their final series in Oakland for the foreseeable future, while chasing an AL East crown

The playoff-bound New York Yankees just finished taking two of three in Seattle. Now, it's time for a weekend set in Oakland, likely the last time they'll visit the Coliseum. The Athletics are unlikely to be pushovers, unfortunately. Since the calendar turned to July, Oakland has played .552 ball (37-30), though they've struggled in September (8-9). As this series kicks off, New York boasts a four-game lead in the AL East. Taking care of business this weekend would go a long way toward nailing down the division.

The ace gets the ball tonight, trying to get this series off on the right foot. Gerrit Cole makes his 16th start of an injury-abbreviated campaign. With the exception of a recent outing that I don't even want to think about, let alone discuss, he's pitched extremely well since the beginning of August. Six of Cole's eight outings since then have featured two or fewer earned runs, including two where no runs at all crossed the plate against him.

Cole has relied heavily on his four-seamer, throwing it nearly half the time (46%). Meanwhile, his knuckle-curve and his slider have been nigh-unhittable since his return from the Injured List. Opponents have mustered paltry .231 and .230 wOBAs against those two offerings. Cole throws one or the other nearly one-third of the time, so it will be worth watching to see if the two pitches confound Oakland hitters.

Meanwhile, righthander J.T. Ginn faces the Yankee offense tonight. The rookie acquired from the Mets as part of the 2022 Chris Bassitt trade will be making his fifth career start and seventh appearance. Ginn predominantly throws a sinker, slider, and changeup (almost never thrown to left-handed hitters), with a four-seam fastball sporadically added in. Small sample size warnings abound here, obviously, but early in his big-league career, hitters have hammered Ginn's sinker, hitting .321 against it, with a .528 SLG. May he groove those early and often tonight.

Shortly before first pitch, the Yankees scratched Juan Soto from the lineup after some inflammation followed his knee collision with a right-field wall in Seattle. Yankee Universe will be waiting with bated breath, hoping this is a minor, day-to-day thing for the Generational Yankee. Regular cleanup hitter Austin Wells moves into the two-hole tonight, taking Soto's spot, physically at least. Trent Grisham will cover center with AL MVP frontrunner Aaron Judge moving to right.

Judge will probably be sad to say goodbye to the Oakland Coliseum. In 15 career games in its cavernous confines, Judge has authored a .304/.427/.681 slash line, with five big flies. Feel free to add to those numbers, Cap. Hopefully, leadoff hitter Gleyber Torres will be on base in front of the superstar slugger. Over Gleyber's last 15 games, he's hitting .302 with an .809 OPS. Torres picked an excellent time to come out of the funk that seemed to smother him all year.

It's getting late. Each win narrows Baltimore's window to seize the AL East from New York. So let's beat a team we probably should beat. Go Yankees.

How to watch

Location: Oakland Coliseum – Oakland, CA

First pitch: 9:40 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES, NBCSCA

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 / A's Cast, Bloomberg 960 AM/103.7 HD2, KIQI 1010

Online stream: MLB.tv

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