MLB Baseball Betting: New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays

The Jays had a day off on Thursday but their three closest AL East rivals didn’t. Pending the outcome of Thursday action Boston leads the AL East by 5 games over Toronto, 6 games over Baltimore and 8.5 over the NY Yankees. Toronto still has the top wild card spot by 1 game over Baltimore, 1.5 games over Detroit, 2 games over Houston, 3 games over Seattle and 3.5 games over the NY Yankees. In other words, this four game home series against the Yankees is crucial for Toronto’s playoff hopes as is the subsequent three game home series against Baltimore. The Jays have split their last ten games and are coming off a 2-1 stint against the Seattle Mariners. Going 2-1 in a road series would be something to be happy about had Toronto not dug such a big hole for themselves in late August and early September.

The Yankees have lost 7 of 12 (again, pending Thursday’s result) but are still alive in the tight AL wildcard race. There are 6 teams within 4 games of each other playing for 2 spots in the wildcard standings. Bryan Mitchell is scheduled to start for New York but the Yankees have yet to release their official pitching lineup for the series. Masahiro Tanaka will miss his scheduled start on Monday so the team may switch up the rotation. Mitchell will be making his fourth start of the season with the Yankees winning 1 of his previous 3. Overall, he’s got a 3.75 ERA and a 1.667 WHIP. The Toronto offense has underachieved badly over the past week averaging just 3.9 runs per game but in theory they hit RHP very well.

The Jays will send lefthander Francisco Liriano who has pitched reasonably well of late with Toronto winning 2 of his last 3 starts. For the season (part of which he spent with the Pittsburgh Pirates) Liriano has a 5.02 ERA with a 1.527 WHIP. In his last three starts he’s got a 3.64 ERA and a 1.039 WHIP allowing just 11 hits and 7 earned runs in 17 1/3 innings of work while striking out 17 and walking 7. The Yankees offensive output against lefthanders isn’t bad though they are 21-24 -2.6 units against southpaws this season.

Game is currently off the board due to the New York pitching situation but when it goes up the Jays are the play. Toronto has had little trouble with New York at the Rogers Centre this year winning 5 of 6 meetings.

BET TORONTO BLUE JAYS OVER NEW YORK YANKEES