New York Yankees vs. Los Angeles Dodgers: Series Preview

After yet another series victory against the Twins, the Yankees are set to welcome some new blood into the Bronx. Starting tonight, the Los Angeles Dodgers will be in town for a marquee matchup featuring some of the biggest names in baseball.

Over the offseason, the Dodgers made quite a splash, signing Shohei Ohtani, arguably the best free agent to hit the market in many years. Besides that, they added another Japanese star in Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Add in the fact that they already had a star-studded roster including the likes of Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and more, and the Dodgers came into this year with a fair amount of hype.

While the haven’t been the best team in baseball so far or anything, they’ve mostly been good, as they hold a decent-sized lead in the NL West already. Their stars have also generally looked the part, with Ohtani, Betts, and Freeman among those putting up good seasons so far.

Before this series of historical rivals and current very good teams gets going tonight, let’s take a look at the pitching matchups expected over the next couple days.

Friday: Cody Poteet vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (7:05 pm ET)

In the opener, Poteet will get his second start while filling in for the injured Clarke Schmidt, and third start of the season in total. So far, he’s been about as good as you could ask for someone filling in. Against the Giants last weekend, he allowed three runs (two earned) in five innings, striking out six batters. The Dodgers’ lineup does represent some stiffer competition, though.

This will be the Yankees’ first in-game look at Yamamoto, who they went after in free agency fairly hard over the winter. Yamamoto notably struggled in his MLB debut over in South Korea in March, lasting just one inning. However, he appears to have gotten the hang of the majors since then, posting a 2.67 ERA and a 2.65 FIP in his 11 starts after that one.

Saturday: Nestor Cortes vs. Gavin Stone (7:35 pm ET)

After a May that saw him post an ERA under 3.00, Cortes didn’t have the best start to June. Although he did battle through things to put up a still somewhat respectable outing against the Giants, Cortes lasted just 4.1 innings. While he gave up just three runs, that was more than he had allowed total in his three starts prior to that.

As the Dodgers were dealing with some pitching injuries to start the season, Stone made their roster as the fifth starter and has run with that opportunity so far. In 62 innings across 11 starts, he has a 2.90 ERA and a 3.38 FIP. Like Yamamoto on Friday, this will be the Yankees’ first look at him, as Stone only made his major league debut in 2023.

Sunday: Luis Gil vs. Tyler Glasnow (7:10 pm ET)

Gil’s incredible 2024 run continued in his last outing as he one-hit the Twins over six innings earlier this week. The performance took his ERA to 1.82, his K/9 to 11.0, and he’s only given up 30 hits in 69.1 innings. Astonishingly, he’s allowed more walks than he has hits. While he has faced good teams during his run this season, this particular Dodgers’ lineup may be the toughest test he’s faced so far.

Unlike LA’s first two starters of the series, the Yankees have a good amount of history with Glasnow, who had spent the previous six seasons with the Rays. He was generally good against them in those AL East clashes, putting up a 2.74 ERA while holding Yankees’ batters to just a .530 OPS. One interesting note about this particular matchup is that it will be the first time this season that Glasnow hasn’t gone on at least five days’ rest this season.

While he’s made a full compliment of starts considering how many games the Dodgers have played, LA has gotten good timing with off days and had 11 different pitchers make starts so far this season.