The Yankees (74-44) enter this series with Oakland 7.5 games up in the East, while the Athletics (52-65) are well out of the playoff race.
Head-to-Head:
The Yanks swiped the first four games of the season series, and are 5-1 overall. These three games will be the last of the season, so the Yanks have already clinched the season series victory.
Pitching Matchups:
| Date: | Yankees starters | Athletics starters |
| 10:05 p.m., Mon. | A.J. Burnett (10-5, 3.71) | Brett Tomko (1-2, 5.23) |
| 10:05 p.m., Tues. | CC Sabathia (13-7, 3.64) | Vin Mazzaro (4-8, 5.54) |
| 10:05 p.m., Wed. | Chad Gaudin (5-10, 5.13) | B. Anderson (7-8, 4.55) |
As Tyler Kepner pointed out, the A’s and Yanks have a little history of sharing players.
Lineups:
| Yankees | Athletics |
| Derek Jeter DH | Adam Kennedy 3B |
| Johnny Damon LF | Rajai Davis CF |
| Mark Teixeira 1B | Kurt Suzuki C |
| Alex Rodriguez 3B | Scott Hairston LF |
| Jorge Posada C | Ryan Sweeney RF |
| Robinson Cano 2B | Mark Ellis 2B |
| Nick Swisher RF | Jack Cust DH |
| Melky Cabrera CF | Bobby Crosby 1B |
| Ramiro Pena SS | Cliff Pennington SS |
My Outlook:
The Yankees are the best team in baseball right now, and it’s hard to see them losing a series to a last place team. However, the Yankees have a very unfavorable matchup on Wednesday. I’d be willing to sacrifice it for a sweep of the Red Sox afterward.
