The final week of the regular season is at last upon us. The general shape of the Yankees’ season has resembled years past—hot start, baffling midseason struggles, and a general return to form near the end. The Yankees have gone 12-7 in September so far and as such they still have an outside shot at stealing the AL East division crown from Toronto. One step at a time, though; a win tonight against the visiting White Sox would punch their ticket to the postseason.
This is an important start for Luis Gil, who is in the running against rookies Cam Schlittler and Will Warren for the third spot in New York’s playoff rotation behind Max Fried and Carlos Rodón. His overall body of work in nine starts has been admirable, though with 29 walks barely trailing his 36 strikeouts, it’s all too obvious what might hold him back. We’ll see how his command is looking in the home stretch of the year against a young Chicago lineup which he saw at the end of August. Gil pitched into the sixth inning, with seven strikeouts as opposed to two walks. He surrendered two runs in an eventual 3-2 loss.
Shane Smith has put together a very solid rookie year for the White Sox and was in fact their All-Star representative this season. He hasn’t really been that good, but the former Rule 5 pick was impressive against the Yankees on August 30th, limiting the Bombers to two runs on three hits with seven punchouts across 6.1 frames in a game that ultimately went to extra innings. Similarly to fellow right-handed rookie Will Warren, Smith’s numbers drop off on the road: a 4.59 ERA away from the South Side as opposed to a 3.57 mark at Rate Field.
The Yankees will deploy what could very well be a Game 1 playoff lineup following the Monday offday. It has thankfully become unremarkable for Ben Rice to be in there at first base against the righty with Paul Goldschmidt on the bench. The only note to report is that Anthony Volpe is at shortstop while José Caballero sits on the bench. Aaron Judge is always a must-watch of course, but his next dinger will be the MVP candidate’s 50th of 2025 and give him the fourth 50-homer season of his remarkable career — a feat matched by only Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa.
How to Watch:
Location: Yankee Stadium — Bronx, NY
First Pitch: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV broadcast: YES Network | CHSN
Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 | ESPN Chicago WMVP 1000 AM
Online stream: Gotham Sports App, MLB.tv
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