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Recapping the Yankees’ play against the A.L. East

The Yankees wrapped up their A.L. East slate for the regular season last night in St. Pete. Saying we dominated our divisional opponents is an understatement. Here’s how things went down against each team on our way to our 19thdivision title:

Team Record Against
Baltimore 17-2
Boston 14-5
Tampa Bay 12-7
Toronto 11-8
TOTAL 54-22

Let’s take a deeper dive into the numbers against each of the above teams.

Team stats

Opponent AVG/OBP/SLG OPS HR Yankees’ ERA Yankees’ K/9 Yankees’ WHIP
Baltimore .303/.386/.632 1.018 61 4.05 9.1 1.246
Boston .290/.360/.501 .860 29 5.55 9.2 1.425
Tampa Bay .242/.314/.447 .762 33 2.70 10.3 1.128
Toronto .274/.345/.493 .838 34 4.07 10.3 1.208

That’s not a typo. The Yankees have punished Baltimore pitching to the tune of 61 home runs in just 19 games. That’s 3.21 home runs per game. Their overall slash line as a team against the Orioles is pretty darn good, and the pitching has been adequate.

Understandably, the team’s ERA is inflated against the Red Sox. These two teams tend to play high-scoring games. Just think back to London. For what it’s worth, the Red Sox’s ERA against the Yankees this season is 6.52.

We pitched very well against Tampa. The problem is we haven’t hit that well against them. Yet we ended the season 12-7 against the Rays, and there is still an ever so slight chance that we seem them again in the playoffs.

Relative to the other teams in the division, the Yankees’ numbers against Toronto are middle-of-the-road across the board. That is reflected in our 11-8 record against them, the worst among the group.

Individual stats

The most prominent individual stat that stands out is Gleyber Torres’ home run barrage against the Orioles. Gary Sanchez got his fair share, too. Torres hit 13 HR (20 RBI, 1.512 OPS) while Sanchez launched 10 (22 RBI, 1.354 OPS).

DJ LeMahieu has smoked many teams, but notably the Orioles (.403 AVG in 62 AB) and Blue Jays (.400 AVG in 80 AB). He has also entered the rivalry by hitting .301 against the Red Sox in 73 AB.

Oddly enough, Aaron Judge struggled this year against the Orioles, hitting a measly .191 with 2 HR and 8 RBI. He is now a career .290 hitter against them with 15 HR and 40 RBI in 176 AB. It is somewhat astonishing that Gleyber has just two fewer home runs against them in one season over about one-third the number of at-bats (66). Judge struggled against Boston (.227 AVG, 3 HR) and Tampa (.194 AVG, 3 HR) as well, but did great against the Blue Jays (.404 AVG, 4 HR).

On the pitching side, James Paxton has started four games against each of the Orioles (3.42 ERA), Red Sox (3.28 ERA), and Blue Jays (4.50 ERA). CC Sabathia has found his way into six games against the Rays (five starts), pitching to a sparkling 2.90 ERA. Tanaka continued to own the Rays, as he had a 1.59 ERA across 28.1 innings pitched this season.