New York Yankees vs. Oakland Athletics: Series preview

After finishing up their 3-4 homestand with a loss to the Tigers yesterday, the Yankees flew to Oakland to start a three-game set. The Bombers won two out of three when the two teams faced off back in May. However, their series came on the heels of the Yankees winning eight out of nine games. The Yankees were tough to beat. Since then, the Athletics have surged and are in a tight race with the Astros for the top of the AL West. This series could be a preview of what is in store for the Wild Card game.

Game one: CC Sabathia vs. Trevor Cahill

At this point in his career, it’s inevitable that Sabathia will land on the disabled list due to this degenerative knee condition at least once a year. The good news is that he picked up right where he left off after being activated a couple weeks ago. Sabathia held the White Sox to three runs off of five hits during his last start. This will be his first time facing the Mariners this season.

Cahill will take the mound for Seattle. The right-hander has posted a 3.60 ERA (3.27 FIP) across 95 innings this season. Although he is having an overall good season, he has struggled recently. He gave up eight runs over his last 8.1 innings pitched. Cahill failed to make it through the fourth inning against the Astros last week after he walked six batters and surrendered three runs.

Game two: J.A. Happ vs. TBD

It finally happened. After five consecutive quality outings from Happ since joining the team, he finally threw a clunker over the weekend. The southpaw gave up three home runs to the Tigers, and was charged with five earned runs off of ten hits before he was chased after 4.1 innings. There is every reason to believe he’ll bounce back this week. However, his worst start of the season came against Seattle back in May when he was tagged for seven runs through 3.1 innings.

Game three: Luis Severino vs. Mike Fiers

The Yankees ace isn’t exactly back to being his old self, but he has made some positive steps over the past few weeks. The ten strikeouts he notched during his weekend start against the Tigers were the most he recorded since early June. He didn’t walk any batters, but he did surrender a home run. Hopefully he continues to move in the right direction.

Severino will face off against Fiers. The 33-year-old has pitched well since being traded from Detroit, but is coming off of his worst performance of the year. He gave up three home runs through 3.2 innings against the Mariners a few days ago. The right-hander is 1-1 against the Yankees this season, having surrendered six runs through 11.1 innings with the Tigers.