Can the New York Yankees get some momentum going?
The Yankees (53-47) dropped five of their first six coming out of the All-Star break and are currently tied for last place in the American League East with the Boston Red Sox, but there are opportunities to quickly climb in the division and wild-card standings in the coming days.
The Yankees are nine games out of first in the East, but are only 2.5 games back in the wild-card race following a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals over the weekend.
Next, beginning Tuesday night, is a two-game subway series with the New York Mets at Yankee Stadium. It’s a good opportunity for the Yankees to potentially add on to the winning streak before an important division series with the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays, who are currently first and second in the AL East standings.
At the same time, the Yankees can’t afford to look ahead with the cross-town rival Mets desperately trying to turn things around. The Mets just lost two of three in Boston and are 46-53 on the season. They’re one of the most disappointing teams in baseball, but the Mets fan base will always relish any opportunity to get a win over the Yankees.
The Mets have veteran Justin Verlander on the mound on Tuesday night. Verlander has allowed only six earned runs combined in his last five starts. In his most recent outing, he went eight strong, allowing only three hits and one earned run in a 5-1 win over the Chicago White Sox.
The Yankees will counter with Domingo German, who has been up and down since tossing a perfect game back on June 28.
For this matchup, the Mets are actually slight favorites at -115 at BetMGM. The Yankees are listed at -105 with the total at 8.5 runs.
What else is going on in baseball?
There are 15 games in all in MLB on Tuesday, including the Baltimore Orioles continuing their three-game road series with the Philadelphia Phillies. The Orioles currently have the AL’s best record and are coming off a 3-2 win in Philly on Monday night. For Tuesday night’s matchup, the Phillies are -120 favorites with the Orioles as +100 underdogs.
Elsewhere, the top two teams in the AL West — the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros — meet for the second game of their three-game series in Houston. The Astros rallied from a 9-6 deficit to win 10-6 on Monday night. Chas McCormick had six RBIs in the win but it was Yainer Diaz who had the walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth.
Houston has not announced a starting pitcher at the time of this writing, so there are no odds listed yet.
Other intriguing matchups for Tuesday include the NL Central showdown between the Milwaukee Brewers (-150) and the Cincinnati Reds (+125), the Toronto Blue Jays (+115) on the road vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers (-135) and the Boston Red Sox hosting the Atlanta Braves.
Women’s World Cup continues
The group stage of the Women’s World Cup carries on late Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning as Japan squares off with Costa Rica, Spain meets Zambia and Canada faces off with Ireland.
The United States will face the Netherlands on Wednesday. The US is a -140 favorite with the Netherlands listed at +400.
What’s the best bet?
I’m going to take the Phillies at -120 over the Orioles. Baltimore has Kyle Gibson on the mound in Philadelphia, where he pitched and was largely ineffective in 2021 and 2022. Gibson has given up at least three earned runs in seven of his last eight starts.
The Phillies, after a frustrating loss on Monday, should be able to tee off on their old teammate.