The New York Yankees have been scuffling mightily since the All-Star break. They've been particularly bad on offense since last Tuesday, scoring more than three runs just once in the past eight games. There is potentially good news tonight for the Yankees, though, when the Toronto Blue Jays visit and start Jose Berrios, who has been the worst qualified pitcher on the road in the majors this season.'The Yankees are -155 favorites at Caesars Sportsbook.
The word “qualif ied” is important here because of MLB's rather arcane rules. A starting pitcher becomes qualified as long as he has averaged one inning per team game played. The Washington Nationals have two pitchers with worse road numbers in rookie Joan Adon (0-7, 8.51 ERA) and Patrick Corbin (1-9, 9.44 ERA) but neither is qualified right now.
Adon is in the minors and Corbin is a few innings short of equaling Washington's team games played because he has been pulled so early so frequently. Corbin is next scheduled to take the mound Sunday in San Diego, so he might become qualified then.
Berrios is 2-4 with a 7.60 ERA and .316 opponents' batting average on the road – those marks are both the worst among qualifiers. Yet he's a solid 6-1 with a 4.10 ERA in Toronto. I'm sure the Jays would like to avoid starting him on the road, but that's simply not feasible. Both of the Berrios' starts this year against New York were at Yankee Stadium. The resul ts aren't pretty — an 0-1 record and a 6.97 ERA in 10.1 innings.