New York Yankees: Preview of the White Sox Series at the Stadium

New York Yankees, Jordan Montgomery

The New York Yankees are coming off their eighth series win and their 7th shutout of the season. This weekend starting today, the Yankees will face the Chicago White Sox in a 3 game set of two power-hitting teams at Yankees Stadium. This is a huge sports weekend for America. There is the PGA Championship in South Carolina, Stanley Cup Playoffs, the NBA Playoffs, and closer to home, the Yankee White Sox matchup.

The New York Yankees players will enjoy the largest crowds at Yankee Stadium this season. Upon their return, they will see separate stadium sections where fully vaccinated fans can sit not socially distanced but with masks. The rest of the stadium can be 33% occupancy, fully masked, and socially distanced.

The White Sox Yankee matchup should be very interesting; both teams played well with equal records over the last ten games (7-3). The Yankees are six games above .500 and the White Sox ten games over .500 and lead the AL Central. The Yankee pitchers will have their hands full holding down this power-hitting team. Unfortunately, neither Corey Kluber of Domingo German will pitch in this series. The Yankees are also missing some key players to injuries.

Friday, May 21, 7:05 pm:

Game one will be tonight, and the starter for the Yankees will be Jordan Montgomery, and for the White Sox, it will be lefty Carlos Rodon, who has had an excellent season so far. He is 5-1 with an ERA of 1.47 with 49 strikeouts on the season. Rodon is coming off his only loss of the season against the Kansas City Royals. His one downfall as a pitcher is that he walks a batter on average once within every 3 innings. With a sharp pitcher like Rodon, the Yankees will have to take advantage of those walks.

The Yankees will start Jordan Montgomery, who has been inconsistent this season and has had trouble with command. He is 2-1 with an ERA of 4.75 over his eight starts. He is coming off his worst start of the season when he went only three innings in the Yankee 10-6 loss against the Baltimore Orioles. However, that was after two quality starts in a row. The Yankees will need “Monty” to be sharp tonight as he faces one of the better pitchers in baseball. You can watch tonight’s game in Chicago on NBC Sports Chicago and in the New York area on WPIX and its affiliates.

Saturday, May 22, 1:05 pm.

Saturday’s matinee will see the New York Yankee ace Gerrit Cole face the White Soxs’ Dylan Cease another low ERA Sox pitcher.  Gerrit Cole is coming off his only loss of the season in the first game of the Texas Rangers series. He is now 5-2 with an ERA of 2.05 but with an amazing 85 strikeouts. In strikeouts, he is second only to Shane Bieber (92). The Yankees will be hoping that Cole will return to form in this second game of the set.

Dylan Cease is 2-0 with an ERA of 2.41 with 50 strikeouts. Cease has never pitched at Yankee Stadium and has never pitched to the Yankees in his career. So far in 2021, he has slightly over a strikeout per inning.  The Yankees will face the White Sox again in August in the long waited for Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa. Saturday’s game will be televised on the YES Network, NBCSChicago, and MLBN out of market.

Sunday, May 23, 1:05 pm:

Sunday’s matinee will be an interesting matchup between Jameson Taillon and Dallas Keuchel. Taillon has struggled a bit this season, shaking off the rust from not pitching after his second Tommy John surgery. He is 1-3 with an ERA of 5.73 and has been the Yankees’ least dependable starter. This will be Taillon’s ninth start of the season. He has faced the White Sox only once in his career and went 5 2/3 innings in a no-decision game.

Dallas Keuchel was at one time one of the best pitchers in baseball, not so much anymore, but he can put together some impressive starts. He is 3-1 with an ERA of 4.44. His record looks more impressive than it really is. His last two wins were accompanied by 29 White Sox runs. Keuchel has pitched very well at Yankee Stadium in his five starts there. Sunday’s game will be broadcast on the YES Network, NCBSChicago, and MBLN out of market.