Ohtani.
Freeman.
Mookie.
Yamamoto.
…Kiké?
Legends all. And the Red Sox will be facing the best team in baseball for a weekend. Just over a month ago this was a dreaded series. The Dodgers were going to crush the last place Red Sox like an egg. Until the Sox caught fire. As essentially the hottest team in the game, will the series go differently?
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The Dodgers are 69-40 vs the Sox 57-51. There’s a bit of a gap. They’ve scored 562 runs and allowed 402. The Sox, with their elite pitching and defense, have scored 454 and allowed 404. So, you know, they’re hanging around. This will be the biggest challenge for the Sox so far. As it is for essentially the other 29 teams that aren’t the Dodgers.
Ranger Suarez is back for his second start off the IL. The last time back he looked just about as sharp as expected. He was only out for 4.0 innings so expect maybe 5.0 or 6.0 in start number 2. Edgardo Henriquez gets the start as an opener. A righty, he’s actually finished 6 games and started none until Friday. So it’s his first career start. He’s striking out about a batter per inning and has a large platoon split: .348 OPS against righties and .770 against lefties. With Wilyer Abreu’s reverse splits, this could be a fun first inning.
Payton Tolle is entering some uncharted territory in innings these days and might start to have a little bit of a leash to keep that total down a tad. Will it finally be the piggyback with Brayan Bello we keep hearing about? He’s facing one of the best pitchers on the planet in Yamamoto. The Dodgers ace was hit hard a few weeks ago against the Diamondbacks (6 runs, 6.0 innings) but followed that up with a complete game against the Yankees. He’s never faced the Red Sox.
Jake Bennett last pitched in a minor league park with a few thousand fans and now faces the juggernaut Dodgers in a packed house for Sunday Night Baseball. There hasn’t been a challenge he didn’t face well this season. Emmet Sheehan is a Boston College product out of Connecticut. He strikes out out at a good clip (26.3%) but has been hit hard. Opposing batters are slashing .245/.311/.462 against the righty.
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The ageless Freddie Freeman leads the league in doubles with 27 and is slashing .301/.379/.485.
Ohtani “only” has 23 home runs this year and has stolen just 6 bases. He’s dealing with some knee soreness so this may be the best weekend to face him.
Mookie is struggling this season and in July. He had a good June but in July has a .584 OPS.
Kyle Tucker looks like a bust so far. Glad the Sox dodged that bullet!
Max Muncy is chugging along at .253/.347/.497 with 21 homers.
Coming off a 3-1 series against the Athletics helps Boston avoid a really bad road trip but this is an elite team and we’ll see how the race to the deadline goes.
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Probable Pitching Matchups
Friday, July 31: Ranger Suarez (3.02 ERA / 2.50 FIP) vs. Edgardo Henriquez (2.79 ERA / 3.05 FIP)
Saturday, August 1: Payton Tolle (3,32 ERA / 3.39 is FIP) vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2.72 ERA / 3.31 FIP)
Sunday, August 2: Jake Bennett (2.74 ERA / 3.28 FIP) vs. Emmet Sheehan (4.95 ERA / 4.41 FIP)
When/Where to Watch
Friday, July 31: 10:10 PM ET on NESN
Saturday, August 1: 9:10 PM ET on NESN
Sunday, August 2: 7:20 PM ET on NBC/Peacock
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