Yankees vs. Red Sox: Four things to know about four-game series with rivals trending in different directions

Friday night at Yankee Stadium, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox renew their rivalry with the opener of a four-game series. These two teams are going in very different directions -- the Yankees are atop the AL East at 12-6 while the Red Sox have the American League's worst record at 6-13 -- but their games are often action-packed. This weekend should be no different.

Here are the details for this weekend's four-game wraparound series at Yankee Stadium. Select games can be streamed regionally on fuboTV (try for free).

The Red Sox have not officially announced their starters aside from Eovaldi on Saturday. They'll use a bullpen game Friday night, a call-up Sunday night, and are expected to start lefty Martin Perez (2-2, 3.38) on Monday. Lefty Jordan Montgomery (2-1, 5.17) is lined up to start Monday night for New York.

Here are four things to know heading into this weekend's series in the Bronx, plus a prediction for good measure.

The Yankees have been unbeatable at Yankee Stadium

Quite literally too this season. The Yankees are 6-1 at home but 6-0 at Yankee Stadium -- they lost a "home" game that was played at Citizens Bank Park -- and they've outscored their opponents 40-22 in those six wins. Going back to last season, the Yankees are unbeaten in their last 26 series at Yankee Stadium. That's a franchise record.

The Yankees lost their first three home series last season -- to the Orioles, Tigers, and White Sox, no less -- and have not lost a home series since. They're great on the road and a juggernaut at home.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, have lost seven straight games at Yankee Stadium and 11 of their last 12 in the Bronx since Opening Day 2019. They are 4-19 at Yankee Stadium since 2017. 4-19! The Yankees swept the Red Sox in three games at Yankee Stadium earlier this season.

Bogaerts, Judge dealing with the same injury

"Injury" is probably overselling it, but they're both a little banged up and it's possible the Yankees and Red Sox will be without their top hitter to begin the series Friday night. Aaron Judge and Xander Bogaerts are both dealing with general lower body tightness and were held out of their team's most recent game.

"I hope (he'll play Friday) but that's in a lot of ways a long way from now, so let's just kind of get through today," Yankees manager Aaron Boone told the Associated Press about Judge this past Wednesday. "Hopefully this is something we're out ahead of and will only be a couple of days ... It's kind of all over the lower body, just where he's kind of dealing with some rigors."

"He's got little stuff going in his lower half. Some fatigue there," Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke told reporters, including Bill Koch of the Providence Journal, about Bogaerts on Thursday. "I wanted to give him a day off. It was either yesterday, today, or tomorrow. He thought today was the best day to do that."

The Yankees are much better equipped to replace Judge than the Yankees are Bogaerts. Clint Frazier, who replaced Judge in right field Wednesday, went 3 for 4 with a home run and a double. Jose Peraza filled in at shortstop for Bogaerts on Thursday (and later pitched in a lopsided loss to the Rays) and is on pace to post a sub-.300 on-base percentage for the third time in four years.

Aside from being a little home run prone (1.6 HR/9), Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole has been as advertised in Year 1 of his record nine-year contract. The Yankees are undefeated in his four starts and he owns a 3.22 ERA with 26 strikeouts and only five walks in 22 1/3 innings.

Cole did not pitch in the previous 2020 series vs. Boston so Friday night will be his first start against the Red Sox as a Yankee. Friday will be his sixth career start against Boston. Here are the first five:

That's a 3.60 ERA against a pretty good offense. The three starts with the Astros are more relevant than the two starts with the Pirates given how Cole changed his game in Houston, but ultimately it doesn't matter. What Cole did against the Red Sox from 2014-19 won't affect what he does against them in 2020. Friday will be his first taste of the rivalry.

The Red Sox's pitching has been impossibly bad this season. They took a 5.24 ERA into Thursday night's game -- that was before the Rays hung 16 runs on them in the first six innings alone -- which would be the worst in franchise history. The worst in franchise history! The Red Sox have been around basically forever and never has their pitching staff been this bad.

In an effort to, you know, get outs, Boston's hurlers have really embraced breaking balls and offspeed pitches this season. Their pitchers had thrown only 21.5 percent four-seam fastballs heading into Thursday's game, easily the lowest rate in baseball. The Yankees, it should be noted, are better than average against fastballs and offspeed pitches, and about average against breaking balls:

If you're going to hold the Yankees down, the best way to do it is with breaking balls. Spin sliders and curveballs. Just don't hang them. If you do, the Yankees have a lineup full of hitters who will put a mistake in the bleachers. In their three-game series last week the Yankees scored 19 runs and hit eight homers. Boston's hurlers could be in a few long nights this weekend.

Might as well close out with a prediction, because why not? The official CBS Sports prediction for this weekend's series is Yankees win three of four. Happ has not been good this year and that's the game the Yankees will lose. Otherwise New York's offense will bludgeon Boston's pitching staff and win the other three games with relative ease. The slumping Gary Sanchez breaks out in a big way and wins the hypothetical series MVP award with three homers. It has been foretold.