Series Preview: Phillies at Yankees, July 20 – July 21

The Phillies (47-45) will visit Yankee Stadium in the Bronx for a two-game series this week.

This is probably a good time to visit the Yankees (48-44) since they’ll be missing some players due to a COVID-19 outbreak, while the Phillies’ COVID-crew seems to be coming back to action.

The last time they met, what happened since

The Yankees came to Philadelphia last month for two games, and left without a win. The Phillies even had to win the first game of the series twice, because they blew a save, which they seem to do a lot.

Since then, the Yankees have gone 15-12, which sounds nice, but isn’t nearly enough if they’re serious about making up ground in the stacked AL East.

Yeah, it sucks for the Yanks that they’re in a tough division, when their current record would have them near the top of the National League East. But I won’t give the fans any sympathy, because they’ve already gone through too any victories.

COVID matchup

The Yankees suffered an outbreak of COVID in their clubhouse, despite having one of the better vaccination rates in baseball. Anti-vaxxers, as they call them, will use this as proof that it really doesn’t matter if you get vaccinated, since the players who got the shot got the virus and had to miss time anyway.

In comparing the Yankees to the Phillies, it’s important to note that Aaron Nola and some of the others on the Phillies who had to miss time never actually had COVID. They were only forced to sit out because they were in close contact with someone who had it, and had they been vaccinated, would have been able to play.

Pitching matchups

Game 1: Aaron Nola (RHP | 6-5, 4.53 ERA) vs. Domingo Germán (RHP | 4-5, 4.72 ERA)
Game 2: TBD vs. TBD

The numbers

Run Differential:
Phillies: -8
Yankees: 7

Runs Scored Per Game:
Phillies: 4.54
Yankees: 4.15

Runs Allowed Per Game:
Phillies: 4.63
Yankees: 4.08

Game times and broadcasts

• Tuesday, July 20th at 7:05pm ET on NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP
• Wednesday, July 21st at 7:05pm ET on NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP