Three close games, none with more than eight runs scored total.
That is how last week’s series in Detroit between the Yankees and Tigers went—it is almost as if the Tigers were a better team than their incredibly poor record would indicate, and that the Yankees were not at full strength, given current key absences. Now at home, the Yankees get a second crack at imposing their superiority over one of the worst teams in the American League in a more aggressive manner than narrowly taking two out of three as they previously did. More than anything else though, they’ll be looking to put the memories of this past weekend behind them, as the Yankees haven’t won since beating the Tigers on Wednesday, dropping four in a row to a Red Sox team that entered Thursday with the worst record in the American League. Brutal.
Back on the subject of Detroit however, since my colleague Sam nicely summarized the Tigers’ offense just last week, we can just refresh some facts to give you the skinny:
They’re currently missing two All-Stars from their 2026 club, Javier Báez and old friend Gleyber Torres, who are both on the IL. But rookie shortstop Kevin McGonigle is back on track in June with an .852 OPS following a bumpy second month in the big leagues. Riley Greene and Dillon Dingler are building their own cases for the Midsummer Classic, too. Detroit can absolutely punch a team in the nose, so the Yankees must be on their guard.
Monday: Ryan Weathers vs. Casey Mize (7:05 pm ET)
For a pitcher who recently beat Tarik Skubal, getting the better of Casey Mize might feel like a cakewalk (though he was a 2025 All-Star as well). As much as we’d like to believe that, the reality is not nearly as simple, so Ryan Weathers will look to avoid the usual pitfalls when facing the same lineup in back-to-back performances. The left-hander last pitched against this same Detroit team on Wednesday, covering six innings of two-run ball in a 4-2 win for the Yankees—that game that put an end to a losing streak of four games for the Yankees when Weathers was on the mound.
As effective as he was, Weathers probably got away with one there, given the sheer number of line drives the left-hander allowed: 10 total, more than he had allowed in his previous three starts combined. The Tigers’ quality of contact warranted a better output than the two runs they managed off Weathers, who now looks to accumulate three quality starts in a row for the first time this season;
Since Detroit is momentarily rolling with a six-man rotation, the specific matchups of last week’s series won’t be repeated, but Casey Mize will be facing the Yanks for a second time. In his last start, Mize’s 17 induced whiffs were for naught as a go-ahead two-run shot by Jazz Chisholm Jr. led the Yankees to a 4-3 win. Bittersweet performances have been the norm as few pitchers know the cruel nature of a starter’s record as well as Mize, whose 2-5 campaign is a testament to his offense’s failings, considering the former number one pick has a sub-3.00 ERA.
Tuesday: Cam Schlittler vs. Tarik Skubal (7:05 pm ET)
Pinch me now because I want to know if this is for real or not. The entire baseball world should turn its attention to Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night as the reigning back-to-back American League Cy Young winner will square off against the cross-your-fingers future AL Cy Young winner as Tarik Skubal and Cam Schlittler square off. Whatever individual accomplishments may or may not come, this represents as magnificent a pitching matchup as one could hope for; the only shame is that the Tigers’ disappointing campaign works slightly against the appeal of it.
What the Yankees achieved the last time they faced Skubal was of such rarity that no team had ever accomplished it since his last start of the 2021 season: to hit not one, not two, but three home runs against the talented southpaw. And even then, four hits on six innings with no walks and nine strikeouts tell you just how dominant Skubal is. On a broader look, the home runs allowed to the Yankees weren’t necessarily an isolated incident—Skubal comes into this game having allowed at least one long ball in each of his last four starts (three of which came after his “Skubal scope” elbow procedure), the longest sequence he’s had since starting this run in which he’s won two AL Cy Young awards.
Cam Schlittler reached 100 innings this season in his last start but didn’t have a lot to celebrate beyond that. Four unearned runs scored by the Red Sox in a single inning led to a Yankees loss in the opening game of that best-forgotten four-game set against Boston.
Wednesday: Will Warren vs. Troy Melton (1:35 pm ET)
The only one of the three pitching matchups with no repeat performers from last week’s series, this duel between Will Warren and Troy Melton pits a pair of young arms against each other, both in different stages of truly establishing themselves as important pieces of these rotations. Melton is only about to make his seventh start of the season, but up until this point, the Tigers could not have asked any more from the 25-year-old righty. In fact, Melton has only allowed three hits in his past two starts, totaling 12 innings and a pair of quality starts against the Red Sox and, most recently, the Astros.
Particularly in contrast with Warren, what Melton did against the Red Sox looks even better considering Boston just handed the Yankees’ starter his second straight blowup outing, elevating his ERA to 3.75—a number that would be even higher if not for four of the six runs he allowed against the Reds being unearned. Back to Melton, though, as effective as he has been throughout this short sample, the home runs have still been a bit of a bother, and much like with Skubal, if the Yankees are going to get to the young righty, it is most likely via the long ball. Melton has allowed at least one homer in each of his previous four starts.
