New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox: Gerrit Cole vs. Nathan Eovaldi

In college baseball, Friday night is the night your ace throws, and when two of the better teams in the country face off, it means that two of the better starters in the country are going. We get that in MLB tonight, as Gerrit Cole takes the ball for a start against Nathan Eovaldi of the Red Sox at Fenway.

We all know the story of Cole’s season — dominant start, June scuffle, AL Cy Young favorite third act. He’s coming off perhaps his worst start of the season Sunday, but it’s hard to find a pitcher who rebounds as well as Cole. After his last bad start — July 29th against Tampa — he threw 5.2 innings of one-run, nine-strikeout ball against the Angels, and following his second-most-recent bad start, he dominated the Astros in a complete-game shutout. Finding a happy medium between those two bounce-back efforts would put the Yankees in a great position to win.

Eovaldi will garner his share of Cy Young votes, leading the AL in fWAR, and has been a workhorse for an unsteady Sox rotation, as he’s fifth in the league in innings pitched. This is his sixth time facing the Yankees this season, posting a 2.01 ERA with 34 strikeouts and just 2 walks against the Bronx Bombers.

How to watch

Location: Fenway Park — Boston, MA

First pitch: 7:10 p.m. ET

TV broadcast: YES, NESN

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280

Online stream: MLB.tv

For updates, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.