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Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole will make his 2026 season debut tonight against Tampa Bay at Yankee Stadium.Cole (age 35) spent the past year rehabbing from Tommy John surgery that he had on March 11th, 2025. The last time Cole stepped on a big league mound was in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, October 30th.

Over A Year Of Tommy John Recovery For Gerrit Cole

Cole, since undergoing Tommy John surgery, has undergone months of rehab and has recently completed minor league rehab stints in Double A and Triple A with the Yankees. Cole threw his last rehab start with Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre, and the veteran right-hander did well, pitching just over five innings, and his fastball got up to 99 mph. The last time Cole was on the mound for the Yankees, in the 2024 postseason, he was dominant, posting a 2.17 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 29 innings, according to StatMuse.

Gerrit Cole has pitched several solid seasons for the Yankees, which included winning the American League Cy Young in 2023, with 2023 arguably being his best year in pinstripes performance-wise up to this point, in which he recorded 15 wins with a 2.63 ERA and 222 strikeouts in 209 innings pitched. While the Yankees won’t necessarily be expecting this version of Cole out of the gate, the Yankees could use his presence since Max Fried’s injury.

The Yankees are coming into this series after a four-game split against the Toronto Blue Jays, in which they lost the previous two games and scored just one run over the last 18 innings. The Tampa Bay Rays, on the other hand, are coming into this series scorching hot, having won 13 of their last 18 games. The Rays are currently (33-15) and 4.5 games up on the New York Yankees in first place.

The Rays are fourth in all of baseball currently in stolen bases (53) and rank sixth in team ERA (3.57). Tampa Bay swept the Yankees on their home turf back in early April. While the Rays have had the Yankees’ number throughout the years, the Yankees will be looking to rewrite the narrative on their own field this time and try to catch some ground in the American League East division race this weekend.

Rays Hitters Who’ve Had Success Against Gerrit Cole

Some key things to note about this series are; DH Yandy Diaz has a lifetime .318 batting average with 2 home runs, 6 RBI, and a .875 OPS against Gerrit Cole in 44 at-bats. Rays center fielder Cedric Mullins in 31 career plate appearances against Cole has one home run, two RBI’s, and a career .323 batting average against the right-hander. One thing seems certain: both of those players will likely be in tonight’s starting lineup for Tampa. As for the rest of the current Rays lineup, they’ve seen Cole very little, if at all.

It will be interesting to see how Cole responds in his first taste of big league action since the Tommy John surgery and recovery. With the Yankees’ bats being rather quiet the last few days, they’ll hope to wake up and support their original ace in what will be a primetime Friday night matchup to watch against a very good Tampa Bay Rays team.

The Yankees bumped up Cole’s debut to a rehab start early. With the injuries the Yankees have dealt with of late, and the return tonight of Jose Caballero and Cole, the Yankees will look to right the ship on their home field and try not to let Tampa run away with the American League East.