5 things to watch as Yankees face Red Sox in a three-game series in the Bronx

Here are five things to watch as the Yankees take on the Red Sox in the Bronx this weekend…

Now or Never

This is the weekend. If the Yankees have any hope of getting back into the playoff hunt they will need to take care of business in this three-game series with their arch rivals. Entering Friday, the Yankees sit 6.5 games back of the final Wild Card spot but three games back of the Red Sox for last place in the AL East.

While a sweep of Boston will still give the Red Sox the advantage -- they have more wins against the Yankees this season -- it will take a lot of pressure off this team and put them back above .500. 

Yankees skipper Aaron Boone and Aaron Judge believe there is still a run in this team, but if they lose two of three or, gasp, get swept then New York would be three-four games below .500 with less than 40 games remaining. 

Gerrit Cole Cy Young Watch

The biggest bright spot on this Yankees team has been the play of their ace, Gerrit Cole. 

Cole has always had Cy Young-caliber stuff but this season is different. In 25 starts this season, Cole is 10-3 with a 2.76 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP.  He has also struck out 166 batters in 156.1 innings. All of those numbers are close to his 2019 season, his last with the Astros, where he went 20-5 with a 2.50 ERA, 0.89 WHIP. While his strikeout numbers were insane that season -- 326 over 212.1 innings -- he's on pace to be in the top percentile in the American League.

So can Cole keep it going this weekend? The Yankees ace is Saturday's probable starter and the team needs him to pitch like a Cy Young winner to help them win this series. In 16 career starts against the Red Sox, Cole is 7-4 with a 4.31 ERA. He's faced Boston once this season back on June 9 and gave up just two runs over six innings but took the loss. 

The Yankees will take that stat line -- minus the loss -- and take their chances scoring more than two runs, which admittedly has been tough this season.

Can Clarke Schmidt bounce back?

Schmidt has been the Yankees' second most consistent pitcher this season behind Cole, but he was roughed up in his last outing. 

On Aug. 14 against the Braves, the 27-year-old gave up eight runs on nine hits in just 2.1 innings of work. Prior to that, Schmidt had a string of eight straight starts where he gave up three or fewer runs and went at least five innings. 

Schmidt is the probable starter on Sunday and will face the Red Sox for the seventh time in his career (third start). In his career, he's 0-1 with a 4.32 ERA. 

He's faced the Red Sox twice already this season with mixed results. His first start saw him giving up just one run in 5.1 innings. A week later, he gave up two runs in just 4.2 innings pitched. 

If Schmidt hopes to be a starter for this team next season, he'll need to finish out strong and this weekend will go a long way towards that.

How will Yankees use Michael King?

It looks like the Yankees are finally starting to try and make King a starter. While it may be too late to get him fully stretched out, they've begun using him in a bulk reliever role or as an opener. 

This weekend will be interesting to see how Boone and the organization utilizes their young righty. He pitched 3.2 innings on Wednesday against the Braves so he may not see action again until Sunday. However he's used, Yankees fans will want to see how he pitches this weekend and moving forward just to see if it's a glimpse of what's to come for New York's 2024 rotation. 

Can DJ LeMahieu keep it going?

LeMahieu has been an up and down hitter all season, but he's definitely on the upswing of late, especially this week. 

He's in the midst of a nine-game hitting streak and is slashing .391/.481/.478 over his last seven games. If we expand that to his entire hitting streak, which encompasses all his games in August -- he missed some time with a calf injury -- he's slashing .355/.429/.419. 

While his power numbers are still lacking -- he has just two extra-base hits in this span -- he consistently gets on base and needs to be the catalyst for a Yankees offense that scored just three runs in their series against the Braves, including being shut out in back-to-back games for the first time all season.