Well, you really can’t beat this.
Yankees And Red Sox Battle For First Place This Weekend
Red Sox: 68-42.
Yankees: 68-42.
I will be watching. You will probably be watching. Most of the Northeast Corridor will be watching.
We’ll be watching because the Red Sox and Yankees are probably the two best baseball teams on Earth, and because the rivalry elicits a great deal of passion on all sides.
These teams aren't really playing for much, though. Both clubs are eight games ahead of the Orange County Angels, the best second-place team in the American League. Both clubs are nearly locks to qualify for the postseason tournament. This weekend's three-game series has very little bearing on who winds up playing in the World Series.
Which isn’t to suggest that bragging rights aren’t at stake.
On paper, the Yankees are the slightly better team. Currently riding a seven-game winning streak, the Yankees have outscored their opponents this season by 173 runs; the Red Sox are +138.
The Red Sox have outscored the Yankees by a few runs, but the Yankees’ superior pitching rotation gives them a significant edge in runs allowed.
This weekend that difference is moot, because the Red Sox will own the mound advantage Friday night and Sunday nights, when Josh Beckett and Jon Lester go against Bartolo Colón and Freddy García. As well as Colón and García have pitched this season, nobody should pretend they're as good as Beckett and Lester.
The Yankees have the big edge in Saturday's game, with Cy Young candidate CC Sabathia (16-5, 2.55) facing DFA candidate John Lackey (9-8, 6.23). Red Sox fans will point out that Sabathia is 0-3 with a 6.16 ERA against the Red Sox this season. I will point out that Sabathia was 4-1 with a 3.04 ERA against the Red Sox in 2009 and '10. He's no pushover.
Considering Beckett and Lester and Fenway Park, our best guess is that the Red Sox take two of three, and are in first place Monday morning.
Not that it matters much. But it matters enough to watch.
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