Yankees final week of 2019 regular-season; a look ahead

The Yankees defeated the Blue Jays, 8-3 on Sunday. They took two of three from Toronto and won the season series, 11 games-to-eight. The Yankees are 54-20 against its own division in 2019—the best record of any team against its division in the majors.

Yankees Luis Severino was masterful, pitching five shutout innings. He allowed just three hits and struck out nine on 80 pitches. The two-time All-Star hasn’t allowed a run in nine innings since rejoining the club earlier this month.

New York’s offense exploded early with four runs in the first. Aaron Judge hit a solo homer against Blue Jays opener Wilmer Font. It was Judge’s 26th homer of the season. He’s posted a 1.111 OPS with 14 home runs and 21 RBI in his last 29 games.

Thirty-six-year old Brett Gardner also continued his hot hitting. He smacked a three-run shot in the first—his 27th of the season. Gardner is batting .341 with six home runs and 14 RBI in his last 11 games. Only George Springer (seven) has more homers across the majors than Gardner during that span.

DJ LeMahieu hit a two-run home run in the second inning off Trent Thornton. The first-year Yankee is batting .329 with 26 home runs and 99 RBI in 140 games this season. He trails Tim Anderson (.334) by five points in the AL batting title race.

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Sunday was the Yankees final home game of the regular season. They finished with a 57-24 record at the newest incarnation of the ‘House That Ruth Built.’ In the divisional era (since the start of 1969), the Yankees have had only two seasons in which they won more home games. New York went 62-19 in 1998 and 58-22 in 1985.

The Yankees have five games remaining in the regular season—all on the road. They begin a two-game series against the Rays on Tuesday, and New York will then finish the year with a three-game set in Texas against Rangers.

Here are some numbers to be on the lookout for on Tuesday.

LeMahieu has 192 hits this season, which matches his career-high (2016). Since the start of 1990, only four Yankees have reached 200+ hits in a season—Derek Jeter (eight times), Bernie Williams (twice), Robinson Cano (twice) and Alfonso Soriano (2002).

The Yankees lead the majors with 298 home runs this season. They’re two home runs away from becoming the first team in MLB history with 300 homers in a year.

C.C. Sabathia is expected to make two relief appearances to finish 2019. Sabathia—who leads all active pitchers with 560 starts—has never made a relief appearance in the regular season. He came out of the bullpen in Game 5 of the 2011 ALDS against the Tigers. C.C. allowed one earned run in an inning-and-a-third. Each of the four of the outs he recorded were via the strikeout.