Dennison was Kubiak’s offensive coordinator in Houston from 2010-13 and had a previous stint as the Broncos’ offensive coordinator from 2006-08. The decision to part ways with Dennison also raised q

ST. PETERSBURG Michael Deiter Jersey , Fla. — The New York Yankees have the best record in baseball at 50-22, and they’ve rarely been better than against the Tampa Bay Rays this season.

The Yankees won their first five meetings with the Rays this season by a combined margin of 31-10 before losing Sunday, and they’re back again for a weekend series at Tropicana Field, having won seven of eight overall after a sweep of the Mariners.

New York has been dominant for many reasons, but a strong bullpen is certainly one of them, with a collective ERA of 2.86, second only to Houston among American League teams. Part of that has been solid starting pitching requiring less use of relievers. The Yankees’ relievers have thrown close to 70 innings fewer than the Rays have in grinding out a 3.73 ERA in a league-high workload.

“They’ve been terrific,” manager Aaron Boone said of New York’s relievers. “They protect each other, because many guys have stepped up. … It’s a big reason. We’re built in a lot of ways around that great bullpen. They continue to deliver.”

The Rays (34-40) have lost five of seven and have sorely missed that continuity in their starting rotation Garrett Bradbury Jersey , continuing to rely on relievers working as “openers” on patchwork bullpen days. Such will be the case in Friday’s opener, with right-hander Ryne Stanek (1-1, 2.21 ERA) getting the ball first, but expected to go little more than the first inning.

Stanek has pitched exceptionally well in that role, however. In eight June appearances, he has an 0.00 ERA in 10 2/3 innings, having allowed only three hits with 12 strikeouts against three walks. Until their recent skid, the Rays had continued to hover around .500 baseball despite trading away major parts of last year’s team in exchange for prospects.

Stanek started last Saturday’s game against the Yankees, and allowed one hit and no runs in 1 1/3 innings in a game New York won 4-1. He has faced the Yankees five times in his career Irv Smith Jr. Jersey , inclding that one start, and is 0-0 with a 2.08 ERA over 4 1/3 innings.

The Rays got one key player back after missing two months with injury in center fielder Kevin Kiermaier, whose defense is among the league’s best. His bat has yet to come around this season, though. He is 0-for-9 in two games since returning from the disabled list, lowering his season average to .135.

“He’s fine. He’ll get going,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Unfortunately, KK got off to a rough start. Those numbers are going to be ugly for a little while, but I’m confident he’ll get going … I’m very confident.”

The Rays will face a familiar face Friday in Yankees starter C.C. Sabathia, who is 4-2 this season with a 3.30 ERA Alexander Mattison Jersey , with one of those two losses coming Sunday against the Rays in New York. Sabathia pitched into the eighth but gave up a season-high 10 hits, allowing three runs in a 3-1 loss while striking out a season-high 10 batters and walking only one.

Sabathia has faced the Rays 46 times in his career, and no opponent has more wins against him than the Rays — he’s 16-15 all-time, with a 3.76 ERA.

New York goes into the series with a considerable head of steam. They’re 17-4 in their last 21 games, putting them on pace to challenge the best starts by any team at this stage in the season.

The Buffalo Bills fired offensive coordinator Rick Dennison after the team finished 29th in offense this season.

The team announced the move on Friday. Their running attack fell to sixth after leading the league the past two seasons.

Buffalo’s offense topped 300 yards just nine times in 17 games and scored only eight touchdowns in its final seven games. Dennison’s play-calling was questioned after Buffalo scored just three points against Jacksonville in the franchise’s first playoff game in 18 years.

Dennison wasn’t coach Sean McDermott’s first choice for the job last offseason – that was former San Diego Chargers coach Mike McCoy. But McCoy took the Green Bay Packers’ offensive coordinator job and was fired midseason.

McCoy is expected to be a candidate to join McDermott’s staff in Buffalo.

Other possible candidates include former Seattles Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, former New York Giants head coach Ben McAdoo, former Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Rob Cudzinski. Mike Shula, the former offensive coordinator in Carolina, previously worked with McDermott and Bills general manager Brandon Beane.

McDermott was non-committal when discussing potential coaching staff changes during the season-ending news conference on Tuesday. The coach said any decisions would be his Dru Samia Jersey , but Beane would be involved with coordinating possible coaching changes with roster moves this offseason.

”We’re building this thing together,” McDermott said then. ”We are aligned philosophically on how we believe it should look and how we believe the building process should basically take shape.”

Dennison was criticized for giving quarterback Tyrod Taylor the option to pass on first-and-goal from the 1 instead of handing the ball off to star running back LeSean McCoy in the wild-card game against Jacksonville.

The play resulted in an offensive pass interference penalty on wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin and the Bills settled for a field goal in the 10-3 loss.

”There’s some calls we want back. That’s probably one of them,” McDermott said after the game.

Before coming to Buffalo, Dennison was Denver Broncos offensive coordinator for two seasons. He was replaced in Denver by McCoy after coach Gary Kubiak retired.

Dennison was Kubiak’s offensive coordinator in Houston from 2010-13 and had a previous stint as the Broncos’ offensive coordinator from 2006-08.

The decision to part ways with Dennison also raised questions about the future of Taylor, who has one year left on his contract. Taylor’s production declined in his third year as a starter and he was benched in favor of rookie Nathan Peterman for a game at the Los Angeles Chargers in November.

The quarterback change backfired after Peterman threw five interceptions in the first half of a 54-24 loss.