Yankees vs. Angels Odds
| Yankees Odds | -180 |
| Angels Odds | +152 |
| Over/Under | 8.5 (-120/-102) |
| Time | 9:38 pm ET |
| TV | MLB.TV |
The Yankees were in free fall mode for a couple of weeks there, but it looks like they have at least stopped the bleeding a little bit. New York is 5-3 in its last eight games. It still has a comfortable seven-game lead in the AL East standings and the second-largest point differential in baseball.
Death, taxes, and the Angels underperforming, and wasting the careers of two of the best players in baseball history. This team started the year looking improved, but it’s just 29-50 since the start of June.
Los Angeles entered the season with a win total of 83.5, and it would need to go 28-5 to hit that over.
New York has dominated the Angels over the years. The Yanks are 3-1 against them this year and swept them in New York. They did drop the first game of this series in LA, though.
Nothing Easy About Facing Yanks’ Offense
Backend starter Jameson Taillon (RHP) is never going to live up to his No. 2 overall pick status, but at this point in his career, he can be trusted as a good but not great starter. Taillon has a 3.89 ERA, which would be his best mark since 2018 before all his injury issues.
New York has gone 18-7 in Taillon’s starts this season. He throws a ton of strikes and rarely gives opponents a free pass. He doesn’t strike out a ton of batters and doesn’t have an elite pitch, but he has a six-pitch mix that all gets the job done.
Nothing about him is special, but he gives the Yankees a chance to win almost every time he starts, and that’s all you can ask.
With the MVP favorite leading the way, the Yankees’ offense ranks top-five in the league in wOBA and wRC+ over the entire season.
However, over the last month, they rank outside of the top 20. Giancarlo Stanton and DJ LeMahieu are still working their way back into rhythm following injuries.
Angels Need More Contributions in Lineup
30-year old veteran Mike Mayers (RHP) has bounced around between MLB and Triple-A over the last seven years. He’ll be making his 20th MLB appearance of the season, and his second spot start. He has made just four career starts in the big leagues.
He has been used as a long-inning guy out of the bullpen, and actually had good success in his start last week, allowing just two hits and no runs over five innings.
Overall, this season, Mayers has produced a 4.46 ERA and 4.39 xERA with teams posting a .335 wOBA. He mostly throws two pitches — his fastball has been terrific, but his slider has been hammered.
Only three players on the Angels have a wRC+ higher than 105 — Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and Taylor Ward. Not a single player is batting over .275. They rank 26th in the league in wOBA and have the highest strikeout rate in the entire league.
Yankees-Angels Pick
Earlier in the year Taillon went eight innings, allowing two hits and one run to the Angels. He has been consistently solid for the Yankees and puts his team in position to have a chance to win most nights.
Mayers was good in his last start, but is making just his fifth big league start of his career. He has a very limited pitch mix, and with a lineup as dangerous as New York’s, he should run into trouble the second time through the order.
After nine straight games without a home run for Aaron Judge, he now has four in his last seven games.
New York’s 14th-ranked prospect Oswaldo Cabrera made his MLB debut earlier this month, and has been a great spark plug for this team, batting .400 with a 1.055 OPS over the last week.
New York is dealing with some injuries to the bullpen and had two of its better arms throw yesterday. Instead, I’ll back Taillon against a career reliever and play the Yankees -154 in the First Five Innings. I would play them down to -165.
pick: Yankees First Five -154
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