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In one of the most highly anticipated divisions of baseball in quite some time, AL East foes go head-to-head on Tuesday evening as the Toronto Blue Jays visit Yankee Stadium to take on the New York Yankees. Check out our MLB odds series, where our Blue Jays-Yankees prediction and pick will be unveiled.
Toronto is coming off a masterful performance in game one of the season between these two heavyweight clubs, as the Blue Jays limited the Yankees to only four hits in a 3-0 shutout win. The Blue Jays improved to 3-1 in 2022 1-0 on the road.
Last season, Toronto was a respectable 44-38 as the visiting team. Occupying the mound will be LHP Yusei Kikuchi, who has the stuff to baffle hitters any given night with his high-usage fastball and cutter.
After getting worked for most of the night by the Jays on Monday, New York will look to change the tide of the series at home. The Yankees will send out southpaw Nector Cortes, who in limited action diced up 103 strikeouts in 14 games started in 2021. New York is 2-2 after winning their first two matchups.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Blue Jays-Yankees MLB odds:
MLB odds: Blue Jays-Yankees Odds
Toronto Blue Jays: +1.5 (-192)
New York Yankees: -1.5 (+158)
Over: 9.5 (-104)
Under: 9.5 (-118)
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Why the Blue Jays Could Cover the Spread
The star power is real with this group. While Toronto has allowed more runs than any other team to start off the year, the offense has picked up the slack in scoring 23 runs through four games, good for fifth-best in the majors. Although we are in the early stages of the baseball season, the Blue Jays will find it difficult to continuously cover the spread night in and night out if their team ERA at 5.75 proceeds to hurt them.
The good news? Toronto doesn't mind playing at Yankee Stadium, and in fact, can't get enough of it.
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The Blue Jays enter Tuesday's key showdown as winners of five straight in the “House that Jeter Built.”Can they make it a sixth consecutive victory? In order to do so, Kikuchi will have to establish some sort of rhythm on the rubber. In his two starts versus the Yankees last season, Kikuchi lasted five innings in both, allowing five runs in the initial game and zero in the latter. One sign pointing in favor of the Japanese pitcher will be the aggressive nature of New York's offense, as its selectivity is rather poor with a 33.2% chase rate, a mark near the bottom half of MLB teams.
Opposite of Kikuchi will be another No. 5 starter in the Yankees pitching staff, so this is the opportunity for the Blue Jays lineup to continue their scorching emergence with their league-leading slugging percentage of .507.
Why the Yankees Could Cover the Spread
The Yankees didn't lose three straight games very often in 2021, and they will look to avoid doing so in the first week of the 2022 season. While New York has not looked like the same team that put away the Red Sox with ease in the opening pair of matchups on the schedule, this is still a roster that was projected to possess the highest offensive WAR (30.6) in the American League. The waiting game is in full effect with this bunch so far, as the Yankees have only averaged 3.25 runs per game up to this point.
Regardless, New York is not scared to claw one out in a good ole' fashioned rock fight, as it would not be a surprise if both teams put up runs in a hurry this evening. The difference-maker in whether or not New York has what it takes to stop the recent slump against the Blue Jays will be the heart of the Yankees order, as names like Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton both homered in their first two games versus the Red Sox.
The long ball may be in full effect in this one, so which hurler will be the first to falter?
Cortes is far from anything special and suspect to an occasional shelling, but the lefty will need to find his groove his first couple times through the lineup to gain some confidence versus a lethal Blue Jays group. In his last start versus Toronto on September 9th of last year, Cortes showed he can be an effective pitching piece, as he fired up a quality start of six innings pitched while only giving up two earned runs.
Final Blue Jays-Yankees Prediction & Pick
Both lineups are extremely right-handed-hitting heavy, so expect each southpaw pitcher to struggle on the mound. There is no telling when the Blue Jays' road superiority may end, and there isn't enough evidence of late to side with the ‘Yanks and a -1.5 run spread. Toronto is the safe pick here!
Final Blue Jays-Yankees Pick: Blue Jays +1.5 (-192)
