MLB Baseball Betting: Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees

With apologies to our Canadian (or Canadien?) audience in advance, you can make a compelling case that the Boston Red Sox v. New York Yankees is the best rivalry in all of sports. Canadian fans I’m with you….I’d personally pick the Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Montreal Canadiens too. But you have to admit that the Red Sox vs. the Yankees is definitely in the conversation. This rivalry will be renewed on Friday as the Yankees and Red Sox begin a three game weekend series at Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox are currently tied with the Toronto Blue jays for second place in the AL East with both teams two games back of division leading Baltimore. The Yankees are the epitome of mediocre this year: 44-44 which leaves them 7.5 games out of first and 5.5 games behind the two second place teams. They went 5-5 in their last ten games heading into the break. The Yankees are still well off the pace of the lead pack but it would only take a few wins strung together and/or some losses by the teams ahead of them to get back into the mix.

Eduardo Rodriguez will get the start for the Red Sox here and he’s been in dismal form. He was bombed in his last start giving up 9 earned runs and 11 hits in just 2 2/3 innings of work at Tampa Bay on June 27. He was awful for most of the season but that was the ‘last straw’ that precipitated his reassignment to Triple A Pawtucket. He reportedly did some work on his mechanics there and looked good enough for the Red Sox to give him a go here.

New York will send lefthander Michael Pineda who has been bouncing around above and below mediocre for most of the season. Pineda has a 5.38 ERA overall and a 1.374 WHIP. At home, he’s got a 5.13 ERA and a 1.291 WHIP. The Yankees have gone 8-9 in his 17 starts overall and 5-4 in his 9 starts at Yankee Stadium. They’ve won 2 of his last 3 starts and Pineda has turned in some solid work. He didn’t pitch well in his last start before the All Star Break (6 innings 5 ER in a 5-0 loss at Chicago) but in two games before that pitched 6 innings allowing 1 ER in both.

We’ll back the Yankees here. Yankees have struggled against LHP but even at his best Rodriguez isn’t hard to hit.

BET NEW YORK YANKEES -145 OVER BOSTON RED SOX