AL Baseball Preview: Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees
The New York Yankees have been playing well of late winning 8 of 10 pending the outcome of Thursday’s night’s contest. They’ve got a good shot to keep that momentum going on Thursday as they host the Toronto Blue Jays in the final game of a four game series. The Yankees had been written off for dead just a few weeks ago but have responded by winning 9 of their last 12 games. They’re now 7 games back of the division leading Boston Red Sox and 1 game back of the third place Baltimore Orioles. The Toronto Blue Jays have been a big disappointment this season and have taken up residence in the AL East basement. They’re 15.5 games out of first place and pending Thursday’s result have lost 7 of their last 10 contests.
The Yankees will start veteran lefthander Andy Pettitte in this game-he’s far off his once dominant form and is more of a journeyman than anything else at this point of his career. Pettitte has a 4.39 ERA overall and New York has split his 22 starts overall and also his 10 home starts. Toronto will respond with lefthander J.A. Happ who has a 4.93 ERA and Toronto has lost 6 of his 10 starting assignments. The Blue Jays are 3-3 when Happ starts on the road though his ERA is an unspectacular 6.18.
New York is clearly the team in better form-they’ve been winning games with offense lately which makes the less than dominating numbers of Pettitte not as much of a concern. The Yankees hit lefthanded pitching fairly well and have made money this year in their games against southpaws while the Blue Jays have lost money. Perhaps the most interesting statistic is New York’s dominance of the Blue Jays over the past few years. Since 2011 New York is 32-15 +8.9 units against Toronto and have posted a 10-1 mark this year. They’ve been even better at Yankee Stadium where the ‘Bronx Bombers’ hold a 22-4 +13.9 unit edge since 2011 and an 8-0 mark this year. Factor that lopsided result in head to head play in with the overall form of each team and this looks like another good spot to play the Yankees. There’s still hope that they can play their way into a postseason spot and this is the type of game they’ll need to win to make it happen.
BET NEW YORK YANKEES (PETTITTE) -160 OVER TORONTO BLUE JAYS (HAPP)