The Yankees signed Max Fried to be their No. 2 starter, behind Gerrit Cole. But when Cole went down for the season, Fried was expected to step up and be the ace – and that’s exactly what he’s been. The lefty is 6-0 with a 1.01 ERA entering Wednesday’s game, delivering all the Yankees could have asked for so far in his eight-year, $218 million deal. When Fried starts, the Yankees win. When he doesn’t, they’ve been a .500 team, which is no shock to manager Aaron Boone thus far.
“We’re gonna be really good,” Boone said. “Not surprising we’re that good when our ace starts and is pitching as well as he is. We got a really good club. We got to keep getting better, and I’m confident we will.”
Fried even flirted with a no-hitter earlier in the season, before it ended on a controversial call.
Fried has been a Cy Young runner-up in his career, and a two-time All-Star. But it’s possible he’s never been as important to his team as he is now, with a Yankee club with World Series aspirations relying on him to win every game he pitches.