NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 03: Aaron Hicks #31 and Gleyber Torres #25 of the New York Yankees celebrate after they both scored off a single from teammate Mike Tauchman in the seventh inning against the Boston Red Sox during game two of a double header at Yankee Stadium on August 03, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
The New York Yankees have removed all doubt concerning which team is going to win the American League East in 2019. They recently won three out of four games that were played at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox. On Saturday, the Yankees swept a double header against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. The Yankees also won the first game of the series on Friday night. This put the Red Sox 13.5 games behind the Yankees. The Tampa Bay Rays trail the Yankees by eight games. This is certainly not the way that Boston thought the 2019 season would go after last year’s magical run to the World Series title.
Chris Sale pitched very poorly for the Red Sox in the first game of the double header. This has been a troubling trend all season. Sale has been one of the best pitchers in baseball for the past few years. However, this year he has been getting bombed with regularity. Nobody seems to know what the problem is. There does not seem to be any problem with Sale physically. He claims to feel fine. If the Red Sox are going to get back into the playoff race, they are going to need Sale to recapture his old form.
The Red Sox did not do anything to improve their team at the July 31 trade deadline. This angered many of their fans. However, the Yankees were also very quiet. The Houston Astros were the only elite team in the American League that made a big trade. They decided to bring in ace pitcher Zack Greinke in a trade that shook the baseball world. The Astros now have the best rotation in baseball. It remains to be seen how well they will pitch when the Astros eventually make the playoffs.
The last couple of weeks have effectively put the Red Sox playoff chances on life support. They still have a chance at winning a wild card spot. However, there are very talented teams like the Cleveland Indians, the Oakland A’s and the previously mentioned Rays that are all in the mix for wild card spots. It will be a dog fight between these teams for the rest of the season. Red Sox manager Alex Cora feels that his team is playing very hard. However, things have not been going their way this year like they did in 2018.
Source: https://sports.yahoo.com/yankees-sweep-doubleheader-red-sox-053851677.html
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