Yankees vs. Red Sox: Who has the edge at each position?
The Yankees and Red Sox haven’t matched up in the postseason since 2004. It’s time to examine who has the edge at each position in 2018.
Aaron Judge hit a two-run blast in the first inning of the Yankees’ Wild Card game against Oakland and his teammates never looked back. New York’s win over Oakland earns them a date with their biggest rivals. The Yankees and Red Sox will begin an intense best of five Division Series on Friday night at Fenway.
The Red Sox have home field advantage since they won the AL East, but this still shapes up to be a very close series. There are intriguing matchups all over the diamond. In this piece, we’re going to walk you through which team has the edge at each position. If any of these matchups get flipped, the player who outperforms expectations may turn the series in favor of their club.
We’ll start in the infield with the first base position. For the record, we’re using probable lineups from Yankees.com as the basis for our projections.
Luke Voit vs. Steve Pearce
Neither guy has been the starting first basemen all season long for their respective teams. Mitch Moreland held the job in Boston for most of the season and Greg Bird got more at bats in the Big Apple. Nonetheless, you can safely expect to see Voit and Pearce be the matchup in this series.
Both guys are adequate defenders, but they’re nothing special. Voit might have a slight edge, but it’s not enough to turn the matchup very much. Both guys are in their managers’ lineups to mash the baseball.
Voit enters this series red-hot at the plate. He batted .333 with 14 home runs down the stretch for Aaron Boone in just 148 plate appearances. That gives him a slight, but meaningful edge over Pearce. The Boston first baseman had a few more plate appearances, and only managed to hit a respectable .279 with seven homers. This one goes in the Yankees win column.