Fresh of their wild-card game victory, the New York Yankees announced who their ALDS Game 1 starter will be, J.A. Happ.
J.A. Happ will start Game 1 of the ALDS for the New York Yankees against the rival Boston Red Sox.
Yankees announce it will be Happ vs. Sale in Game 1
— Erik Boland (@eboland11) October 4, 2018
The Bombers acquired Happ at the 2018 trade deadline, a deal that saw Brendon Drury and Billy McKinney head to Toronto. Since his acquisition, Happ has just been lights out for New York.
In 11 starts, Happ went 7-0 with a 2.69 ERA, allowing 20 runs in 63.2 innings.
Those impressive numbers are what gave manager Aaron Boone a tough decision to make when it came to who should start the wild card game. As we know, Boone went with Luis Severino over Happ and it worked in the Yankees favor.
Not only did the Yankees win the game behind Severino, but it also allows Happ to potentially start two games against the Red Sox.
This year, Happ has held Red Sox batters to a .193 batting average in 88 at-bats pitching for the Blue Jays and Yankees. In that span, he’s allowed just 11 runs.
With Boston starting Yankee killer Chris Sale in Game 1, it is important for whoever was pitching for the Yanks to match him. Going with Happ allows just that.
In terms of playoff experience, Happ has plenty of it appearing in 10 postseason games, three of which were starts. He has a postseason career 3.72 ERA but, that number is inflated after he posted a 5.00 ERA in the 2009 playoffs. Happ has made three appearances in the Division Series, two of them starts, and has allowed just four runs in eight innings.
It has not been announced yet but, expect Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia, and Severino to follow Happ in the ensuing games.
The Yankees and Red Sox kick off their first postseason battle in 14 years Friday night at 7:32 PM in Fenway Park. You can catch the action on TBS.
