Tigers vs Yankees: NY Must Take Advantage of Justin Verlander's Missed Start

Mother Nature handed the Yankees a gift on Friday night when torrential rains ended Game 1 in the middle of the second inning. Now they have to capitalize on this gift by getting to Doug Fister.

This is no easy task but one they must accomplish. Otherwise, they will be staring at the possibility of having to win three out of four games, with one of those games coming against the nearly invincible Justin Verlander.

A loss in this game will put a tremendous amount of pressure on their lineup and turn Game 2 into a virtual must-win contest. 

All of that said, the Yankees have their work cut out for them against Fister.

Doug Fister has been amazing since joining the Tigers. He is 8-1 with a 1.79 ERA, 0.84 WHIP. He has seen his strikeout rate jump from 5.5 per nine innings to 7.3 since joining the Tigers.

The Yankees are a patient lineup and they like to make opposing starters work hard in the earling innings. However, that strategy plays right into Fister's hands. He has a mind-boggling 57-to-five strikeout to walk ratio since joining Detroit.

The Yankees knew coming into this series that they were going to be going against a great one-two punch in Fister and Verlander. That task got a little easier when Verlander's start was nullified by the rain.

They will now likely only have to face Verlander once. A win against Fister in the opener will give the Yankees the upper-hand for the series. A loss, and they will be stuck between a rock and a hard place.