The New York Yankees will, for the first time in 15 long years, play a World Series game. It will happen on Friday starting at 8:08 pm ET against the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone had already revealed his starter for the opener on Friday. It will be Gerrit Cole, who posted a 3.41 ERA in the regular season and is at 3.31 in the playoffs.
Game 2, however, was still up in the air until Thursday afternoon. Now, we know that it will be left-handed pitcher Carlos Rodon taking the bump on Saturday in LA.
The Yankees are going with Carlos Rodon’s fire and top stuff in Game 2
Rodon has a 4.40 ERA in the postseason against the Kansas City Royals and the Cleveland Guardians to this point, but will face a tough Dodgers lineup that led the league in OPS against lefties with a .795 mark. Rodon finished the regular season on a high note, with 175 frames of a 3.96 ERA and 195 strikeouts. His 16-9 record was one of the best on the Yankees this year.
The southpaw has been doing a good job controlling his emotions on the mound after this particular situation affected him in the AL Division Series against Kansas City. He gave the Yankees two solid outings against Cleveland and is prepared to do the same vs. LA if the series reaches that point.
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The Yankees $162 million man is a fierce competitor who cares about his results on the mound and works hard to give the team everything he’s got.
Candidates to start the third game of the Fall Classic for the Yankees are plentiful, in theory, if we include Marcus Stroman. Realistically, however, Boone will likely choose between Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil with the loser of that battle taking the ball in Game 4.
