The New York Yankees take on the Los Angeles Angels. Check out our MLB odds series for our Yankees Angels prediction and pick.
Jameson Taillon takes the bump for the Yankees, while Mike Mayers gets the call for the Angels.
Jameson Taillon had a 2.30 ERA in the first week of June. By July 10, that ERA had risen to 4.01. Taillon was brilliant in the first two months of the season, and then got crushed in the third month. While he hasn’t regained his April-May level of performance in recent weeks, he has certainly stabilized his season and halted his downward slide. Over his last eight starts, Taillon has allowed more than three earned runs only once, and he has pitched at least six full innings in five of those eight appearances, which is a majority. Taillon is still giving up too many home runs. He avoided them in his excellent start to the season. He gave up eight homers in his first three months of the year, 13 in his last two.
One good trend for Taillon: From July 22 through Aug. 8, a sequence of four starts, Taillon issued 12 walks. In his last three starts from Aug. 14-25, Taillon hasn’t walked a single batter.
Mike Mayers was used by the Angels as a reliever in April and May. He didn’t pitch for the team in June or July. He was integrated into the starting rotation on Aug. 6. He has made four starts this month, pitching 17 2/3 innings and allowing seven earned runs, a 3.57 ERA. That’s not a lot to go on. Mayers gave up five runs to the Mariners on Aug. 17, then pitched five scoreless innings last week against the Rays in St. Petersburg. How will he pitch here against the struggling Yankees? There is not an abundant supply of information or previous results which can easily point the way to a pick.
Courtesy of FanDuelhere are the Yankees-Angels MLB odds.
MLB Odds: Yankees-Angels Odds
New York Yankees: -1.5 (+102)
Los Angeles Angels: +1.5 (-122)
Over: 9 (-102)
Under: 9 (-120)
Why The Yankees Could Cover the Spread
Here we go again. The Yankees, who had an atrocious first three weeks of August and then won five straight games, abruptly turned around and lost three straight on their West Coast road trip. The A’s and Angels are both well under .500, but the Yankees have looked like a bad team again. When New York hammered Oakland 13-4 on Thursday, it seemed this group was going to roar back and start dominating bad opponents, but that hasn’t happened. Another subpar showing from the New York batting order hurt the Yanks on Monday. One would think the poor hitting — with Giancarlo Stanton back in the lineup — will not persist much longer. Is Mike Mayers really going to handcuff this team? It’s not likely.
Why The Angels Could Cover the Spread
After winning on Monday, the Halos just keep showing that they’re not a pushover, and more precisely, that they’re a better team than what we saw when they collapsed in June and July. The Angels have certainly shown a lot more fight in August, winning a series against the Twins and sweeping the Blue Jays in Toronto. This is a group of battlers, and it battled successfully against the Yankees on Monday. Having Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani in the lineup will always give the Angels a legitimate chance against any opponent. Mike Mayers has done a solid job, and he can hold up well against the Yankees, who are not hitting.
Final Yankees-Angels Prediction & Pick
If the Yankees continue to lose and the Angels continue to win, a lot of bettors will be out of luck. One could view this as a stay-away game, but the longer New York struggles, the more each new game offers the possibility of a breakout. It’s hard to shed that belief here. Surely the Yankees are going to bounce back before too long.
Final Yankees-Angels Prediction & Pick: Yankees -1.5
