Thank god for Sunday Night baseball — Yanks & Dodgers!

Occasionally, we all just gotta look to the skies and say thank you baseball gods. Tonight, we do so for this Sunday night baseball matchup in June, for Yankees vs. Dodgers. True, as a Giants fan, I claim no love for either of these clubs, but as an “impartial” baseball writer, damn, this matchup is as good as it gets. Still today, over two-and-a-half decades after it was instituted (in 1997), one will occasionally find the crusty old baseball fan in some random ballpark who poo-poos the concept of “inter-league play.” But change is good, and today we have have a beautiful example of that.

Yesterday, I spent much of this column singing the praises of Miami’s under-the-radar rookie starter Eury Perez, and the 20-year-old did me right by giving five scoreless innings of 4-hit baseball (5 Ks and 1 walk). Today, the focus is on another rookie starter, this one not so much “under-the-radar,” (perhaps because he pitches for the Dodgers)—24-year-old Bobby Miller.

It’s early, but so far the former first-round pick from Louisville has performed very well his first month in big leagues—two games, five innings of 1-run ball against the Braves and and six innings of 1-run ball against the Nationals. Miller throws hard, up to 99 mph with a four-seamer and 93-95 mph with a two-seamer. He also has some solid secondary stuff, including mid-80s slider, which can morph into a cutter reaching 90 mph. His 0.91 WHIP right now is top-ten in the league, for what that’s worth (and it may not be worth much because we have only 11 innings of data). His K%-BB% number (16.7) is also very solid, top-ten in the league among rookie starters. Long story short—there is some support there for his excellent ERA of 1.64, tops in the league among rookies. But (and this is an important “but”) some negative regression likely going to happen for Miller, as is suggested by his 3.70 SIERA.

If that regression is going to happen, it is likely going to happen tonight against the Yanks. Aaron Judge is sitting out tonight, which is good for Miller because Judge’s numbers against right-handed pitching in the last month are so incredibly obscene that I’m hesitant to list them on this, a PG-rated column. (But here’s a taste—257 wRC+ against righties since May 1^st .) Still, the Yankees collectively have been a top-5 club against righties in the last month—112 WRC+ (3^rd in MLB), .771 OPS (5^th in MLB), .331 wOBA (7^th in MLB). So while Bobby Miller has looked super-solid in his first season, his test tonight in prime time is going to be the most daunting one he’s had so far. I think he’ll be fine, but I do not expect the great numbers that we saw in his first two starts.

Another note related to this series—it is a sports cliché to say that “(insert sport) is a game of inches,” but Yankees fans have got be to incredibly thankful (in fact, all baseball fans should be incredibly thankful) that this play happened where it did.

What might have been the case if Judge had rammed his left shoulder into a wall (or fence) without the give of broken bullpen door? Judge sustained a slight foot injury on this play, but it might have been worse. That said, it was amazing catch, probably one that will play in Judge’s highlight reels for a long time.

Best Bets Tonight

• Dodgers stater Bobby Miller UNDER 4.5 Ks (-120)

• DIAMONDBACKS money line/to win (-126)

• DBacks starter Zach Gallen OVER 5.5 Ks (-135)

• CUBS money line/to win (-108)