New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays: Gerrit Cole vs. Mitch White

We usually use this space to talk about the day’s starting pitching, since for 140 years or so your starter’s performance has had the single biggest impact on your team’s chances of winning. Headed into the third game of this four-game set with the Blue Jays, however, it’s somewhat obvious to me that it doesn’t really matter what Gerrit Cole does, if the lineup can’t find some way to make some kind of impact.

The Yankees have been shutout three times this week, including last night’s 4-0 loss at the hands of the Jays. In the last two weeks they have the third-worst offense in the game, just besting the Angels and the Tigers at a truly dreadful 68 wRC+. Whether it’s Cole, or prime Roger Clemens, or Old Hoss Radbourn himself, with an offense that inept, your starter becomes largely irrelevant, even as he enters play with a 3.30 ERA, 3.21 FIP, and the fourth-best strikeout rate in all of baseball.

New York will try to hit Mitch White, making his third start for the Jays after being traded at this year’s deadline from the Dodgers. It’s hard to assess his performance in the AL with just 9.2 IP and a paltry 2.4 percent K-BB%, but once again, the team needs to hit no matter who the chucker opposing them is.

How to watch

Location: Yankee Stadium - Bronx, NY

First pitch: 1:05 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES, SNET

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9, WADO 1380, SN590

Online stream: MLB.tv

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