Series Preview: Party time in the Bronx

It’s very unlikely that there will be any unopened bottles of champagne by the time the Blue Jays will land in New York. Following the Yankees victory against the Angels a night ago, the Bronx Bombers celebrated their first division championship since 2012. For the Yankees’ sake, they better enjoy popping all those bottles, because it may be the only celebrating they’ll be able to do this season.

Coming into this series, the Blue Jays have won three straight series and have been victorious in seven of their last nine games as well. After the Yankees night of celebrating, the Blue Jays likely won’t have to face any of their regulars during the first game of this series. So, the Blue Jays should have a very good chance to win four straight series.

Jacob Waguespack has continued to struggle on the mound since his dominating performance in La La Land against the Dodgers. In his four starts since, Waguespack has failed to pitch at least five innings in all four of those outings and he’s also been tagged with a home run in each of those starts as well. Although, the 25-year-old has the chance to get his revenge on the Yankees in this game after he was pounded by the Bronx Bombers during his latest start.

In that start against the Yankees, Waguespack exited the game after just three and 2/3 innings following the three runs on seven hits he surrendered. Waguespack will need to do a more effective job at locating his pitches during this game, as he gave up a total of three extra-base hits during his last start against the Yankees.

Aaron Boone and the Yankees are expected to be very cautious with J.A. Happ during this game. Happ was forced to exit the game early in his latest outing against the Tigers due to bicep tendonitis. Following that start, Happ received a cortisone injection which has nursed him healthy enough to make this start against his former team.

Before this injury, Happ had really started to turn his season around after the 36-year-old had struggled for most of the season. Prior to his latest outing, Happ made two other starts this month and was nearly unhittable. The man who spent six different seasons with the Blue Jays allowed just three hits and created 12 strikeouts through 12.1 innings pitched through those pair of starts.

T.J. Zeuch will be looking to recreate similar results against the Yankees in this game after the former 1st-round pick recorded his best start in the majors his last time out. During his latest start against the Yankees, Zeuch allowed just three runs (two earned) on five hits and produced a career-high five strikeouts over his five and 1/3 innings of work. However, the 24-year-old still has areas where he can improve on in this game against the division-leading Yankees.

In his latest start, Zeuch gave up another three walks and threw just 57% of his pitches for strikes as well. The Yankees have been one of the best teams at generating walks this season, as they currently own the 5th-most number of walks among teams in the AL this season. So, this game should be another great test for Zeuch to show that he can command the strike zone with consistency.

Exactly one week ago, Canadian James Paxton held this Blue Jays’ lineup to just a single run over five innings. Luckily for the Blue Jays, Paxton didn’t have his best assortment of pitches during that game, as he only recorded a trio of strikeouts. Uncharacteristically, Paxton gave up eleven fly balls to just four ground balls during his latest start as well.

Even with generating eleven balls in the air to the outfield, the Blue Jays’ hitters weren’t able to drive any of those balls over the wall for a home run. Coming into this start, Paxton has now surrendered just one home run over his last six starts. Since the Blue Jays produce the highest percentage of their runs off of home runs in the league, they may find it tough to score many runs off Paxton once again in this game.

Coming in out of the bullpen has certainly been paying off for Trent Thornton over his last two outings. Thornton has also been much more effective with his curveball/slider over his last two games as well. With the addition of his new grip, the 25-year-old has seen an increase in his strikeout rate and his whiff rate with breaking ball. While it’s not exactly ideal to have Thornton entering out of the bullpen, you can’t argue with what has worked so well since he made the transition.

During his previous two outings, Thornton has given up just one run on three hits and he’s also created eleven strikeouts as well. Going forward, the Blue Jays will likely keep Thornton in this current role until he either begins to struggle or until the team feels confident handing him another opportunity to start a game.

The Yankees have yet to announce who will conclude this three-game series for them. There’s a very strong possibility that the Yankees will send out Luis Severino to make just his second start of the season during this game. The 25-year-old made his season debut back on Sep. 17 against the Angels.

During that start, Severino was pulled before the start of the fifth inning after he threw 67 pitches and allowed just two hits while striking out four batters. The Yankees will likely hold Severino to a pitch count of 70 to 80 pitches in this game. Following Severino, the Yankees could turn to Chad Green, Luis Cessa or any number of pitchers to finish off the rest of the game.