By James Peacock

For the second time in two weeks, the greatest rivalry in baseball will renewed when the Yanks and the Sox again come to blows, this time up in Boston. The Bombers come in with a 39-30 record, only good enough for third place in the ever-stacked AL East. The Red Sox, in last place in the East, bring in a 34-35 record. Domingo German will get the ball in game one, followed by Clarke Schmidt and Luis Severino. The Yankee lineup will face Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello and, our old friend, James Paxton.

To say that the offense has struggled since Aaron Judge went down would be a massive understatement. They’ve managed to tread water in his absence thanks to superb pitching, particularly from the bullpen, which ranks first in the majors in ERA as a unit. Obviously any offense that loses the AL MVP is going to struggle, but for the Yankees to rank 28th in baseball in team OBP, ahead of only the lowly White Sox and lowlier Royals, is an embarrassment. It’s the same old story for this team, they can hit home runs and win then they do, but their offense has a tendency of becoming anemic when balls are not leaving the yard.

The Red Sox, on the other hand, have an offense that ranks among the league’s best in most categories of importance. Therefore, as was the case last weekend, this series will be a battle of strength against strength. Unlike last weekend, the Yankees will not have Gerrit Cole on the mound in this series, and will need German, Schmidt and Severino, all of whom have been inconsistent this season, to show up. It would also be helpful if Anthony Rizzo broke out of the worst slump of his career by poking a couple doubles off the green monster.

Who is going to step up? We shall see.