New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays: Néstor Cortes Jr. vs. José Berríos

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but “disappointing” doesn’t even begin to describe this latest stretch for the Yankees. After a 13-game winning streak that catapulted them to the front of the Wild Card race, the Yankees are now 2-9 in their last 11 games, including three straight losses to the surging Toronto Blue Jays.

After last night’s deflating 6-3 loss, the Yankees lost their precarious grasp on the first Wild Card spot and now sit just 1.5 games up on Toronto for the second spot. To avoid the sweep, they’ll give the ball to Néstor Cortes Jr., one of the team’s biggest surprises of the season, and pray that the bats finally wake up.

To say that tonight is a must-win game for the Yankees is not an overstatement. Three straight losses to any team is bad enough, but a four-game sweep at the hands of the team chasing you in the standings is hard to rebound from at this stage of the season. If the Yankees want to make a serious run at the playoffs, they cannot afford another lifeless performance.

For a Toronto team dreaming of a series sweep, the Jays will send their big trade deadline acquisition, José Berríos, to the mound in the hopes that they can gain yet another game on New York in the Wild Card race. The Blue Jays are currently as hot as the Yankees are cold — they’ve ripped off seven straight wins, which matches their longest winning streak since 2016, and six of those wins have come against the Wild Card rival A’s and Yankees. Needless to say, it’s not what you want.

There was a ton of news that was just dumped on us moments ago. In summary, it appears as though Gerrit Cole is expected to make a start “early next week,” Jameson Taillon is on the 10-day IL with a right ankle tendon injury, Zack Britton had a surgery that was “essentially Tommy John,” which puts his 2022 season (and Yankee tenure) in jeopardy, Deivi Garcia is with the taxi squad and could potentially be needed to make a start (Clarke Schmidt is also in the mix), and Michael King is expected to be activated tomorrow. As if this team didn’t already need to win tonight...

The Yankees are going to have their hands full tonight with one of the most exciting young lineups in baseball. Let’s hope the big bats come out and decide to stick around, because the Yankees might be on the outside looking in soon enough if they don’t.

How to watch:

Location: Yankee Stadium — Bronx, NY

First pitch: 7:05 p.m. ET

TV Broadcast: YES Network, MLB Network (out-of-market only), Sportsnet

Radio Broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280

Online Stream: MLB.tv

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