The New York Yankees have a lot of teams ahead of them if they want to make the playoffs this season either as a Wild Card or as a division winner and one of those teams in the mix is the team the Yankees will square off with tonight in the Kansas City Royals. The Royals are one of the hottest teams in baseball right now so hopefully the Yankees young bats and youthful talent that doesn't know any better or know to be nervous in the middle of a playoff push can cool them down. If not it may be season over for the Yankees, their playoff lives are unfortunately that delicate at this point. In the start tonight the Yankees will send Michael Pineda, who was pushed back a day and supposed to start yesterday, to the mound to square off with Dillon Gee for the Royals.
Pineda took a bit of a step back in his last start as he gave up five earned runs in just 5.1 innings pitched against the Seattle Mariners. Pineda was not helped by his bullpen or Anthony Swarzak in specific in the 7-5 loss for New York but despite that Pineda has still racked up 10 losses in what has become a disappointing season.
Gee looks to start a string of good starts tonight after struggling a bit in his last start against the Miami Marlins. Gee pitched well enough to win in most cases giving up three runs in just 5.1 innings pitched but the game resulted in a loss for Kansas City, something they cannot afford too many more of if they want to make the postseason in 2016.
The game will be played at 8:15 pm ET inside Kauffman Stadium and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV. The Yankees have for whatever reason played the Royals tough over the last few years whether Kansas City was down or well on their way to their first World Series in 20-years and I expect nothing less from the boys tonight in the contest. Go Yankees!
