Every team wants to have great players on its side heading into the postseason, and having those players performing at their peaks in September is a drastic confidence boost.
New York Yankees ace Max Fried checks all those boxes, and after his latest virtuoso performance, American League playoff contenders should know they have a problem on their hands.
Fried and the Yankees arrived in Baltimore to begin a four-game series on Thursday after a brutal travel schedule that included a late-night flight to Washington, D.C., and an 80-mile bus ride to the team hotel. But if the Baltimore Orioles were hoping Fried would show fatigue on Thursday night, they were bitterly disappointed.
Fried pitched seven dominant innings in the Yankees’ 7-0 win, allowing just three hits and striking out 13 batters to tie a career-high. He picked up his Major League Baseball-leading 18th win, and lowered his ERA to 2.92 in the process.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone raved about Fried’s performance after the game, and the summary of his message could be taken as a big “look out” to all the other prospective AL pennant challengers.
“He’s an ace,” Boone said, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “He pitches like that. He’s had a phenomenal year to this point. On top of that, just the kind of person and teammate he is — he’s everything you’d want in bringing somebody in to be a featured guy in your rotation.”
Fried, in the first season of an eight-year contract, is excited to help the Yankees try to break their 16-year World Series drought.
“We’re playing some pretty good baseball right now,” Fried said, per Hoch. “That’s when you want to really hit your stride, going into the last week or so. We’re excited. We want to go out there and finish strong, and go into the playoffs strong.”
Hitters, beware. Fried (and the rest of the Yankees’ formidable rotation) is ready to hunt for punchouts and zeros in October.