Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Kansas City Royals 5/16

Another series and another week of baseball for the New York Yankees. The Yankees didn’t have a good showing over the weekend against the Houston Astros but the team had the off day yesterday to mend and lick their wounds and are back at it again tonight with the first of a three-game set with the Kansas City Royals. The Yankees will send CC Sabathia to the mound looking to turn his season around after recent struggles have bogged the lefty down while the Royals will counter with former Chicago Cub and veteran pitcher Jason Hammel.

Sabathia has been horrible lately, let’s not mince words and let’s not equivocate. Sabathia has pitched to an 8.14 ERA in the first three innings of games this season and is still prone to that one big inning almost every single time he takes the ball. Sabathia has allowed five or more runs in each of his last three starts which is a complete polar opposite of his first three starts of the 2017 where he was dominant. Just counting down the days before a 10-day DL trip and a knee drain happens.

Hammel was not especially sharp either in his last start against the Tampa Bay Rays allowing a whopping 13 hits and six earned runs in seven innings of work on Wednesday. If the Yankees score six runs and collect 13 hits you have to think that even with Sabathia on the mound that this one is in the bag. No?

The game will be played at 8:15 pm ET inside Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network and MLB TV. You can also follow along in your cars or on the radio by tuning into John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman on WFAN.