It’s still August but the importance of this series between the Yankees and Blue Jays can’t be denied. The Jays used their second 11-game winning streak to move ahead of the Yankees in the AL East standings with three of those win coming last weekend in New York.
ODDS ANALYSIS
It’s not a good time for the Yankees to be taking on the blue Jays considering how the teams have been playing. New York ended a five-game losing streak with Thursday’s win in Cleveland but saw their lead in the AL East vanish by dropping six of the previous seven. The Jays overtook the Yanks with their 11th straight win beating Oakland 4-2. New York’s pitching staff has done a nice job in the season series of shutting down the high-powered Jays, who average 5.3 runs. But the Yankees produced just one run total while getting swept three games by Toronto last weekend in the Bronx. In fact the Yankees scored just 17 runs while dropping seven of the first nine against Toronto this season.
PITCHING MATCHUP
Masahiro Tanaka (8-5, 3.79 ERA) was outstanding but got zero run support when he lost to the Blue Jays on Sunday. Two of the three hits he allowed over six innings were solo home runs by Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista and he lost 2-0. It was his second straight quality start and his seventh straight outing of six innings or more.
Tanaka should be well rested when he faces the Jays again as he threw just 80 pitches. He got a win giving up two earned runs over seven innings in his only start at Rogers Centre on Apr. 4, 2014.
Marco Estrada (10-6, 3.21 ERA) will face the Yankees and Tanaka for the second time is as many starts. Estrada held the Yanks to three hits over 6.1 shutout innings to reach double-figures in wins for the first time in his career. He did walk three and hit a batter but held the Yanks off the scoreboard. He’s been excellent over his last 10 starts posting a 2.24 ERA with six wins.
Estrada was tagged for eight hits and four earned by the Yankees in a 6-3 loss at Rogers Centre on May 5 in his first start against them this season.
QUOTE TO NOTE
“You know, no matter what happens or where we’re at in the standings, we’re all going to have an opportunity to kind of determine that destination. We have plenty of opportunities to play against each other. This weekend is an opportunity and we’ll try to take advantage of it.” – Yankees Alex Rodriguez on the weekend series with Toronto.
LIVE BETTING or SITUATIONAL BETTING
Better late than never for the Yankees, especially for this series with the Blue Jays. The slumping Yanks achieved two things on Thursday that they hadn’t accomplished for some time. They scored a lot of runs and they got a win. After scoring a total of six runs in their previous five games – all losses – the Yankees exploded for 10 hits, including two home runs and two doubles, in an 8-6 win in Cleveland. Offense has come and gone quickly for the Yankees recently. During a 10-game stretch that ended Aug. 4, New York scored 90 runs while winning seven of 10. In seven games immediately following that stretch, the Yanks produced just nine runs and went 1-6.
PROP TALK
Taking hacks against Tanaka should cure the ailing finger on Edwin Encarnacion’s hand. The Blue Jays slugger missed several games with the injury but would love to be in the lineup against the Yankees right-hander. Encarnacion has five hits in 10 lifetime at-bats against Tanaka with a double and a home run and has 16 of his 250 career homers against New York.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
The Blue Jays went all in at the trade deadline to make a run at the AL East title and so far the acquisitions of David Price and Troy Tulowitzki have paid off. The Jays went two weeks without a loss and climbed ahead of New York in the division. But remember, Toronto was just one game over .500 on August 1, six games behind New York in the standings and that also included an 11-game win streak. Toronto won’t win them all and the Yanks will make sure of that behind Tanaka, who doesn’t get rattled by the Jays potent offense.
New York 5, Toronto 3
The MLB lines for this contest will first be released by BookMaker Sportsbook. Gamble on the game between every half inning with BookMaker’s live betting feature. Along with an adjusted in-game moneyline, you can wager on what will happen in the next at-bat or how many runs will be scored in the next inning. Live betting is the most exciting way to play!
Access live betting lines from your mobile device at BookMaker Sportsbook! You can wager on sporting events as they unfold on television with BookMaker’s live betting platform. Real-time spreads, totals, props and moneyline odds are all available by clicking here so start betting with BookMaker today! The ballgame pitting the New York Yankees versus the Toronto Blue Jays will commence Saturday, August 15, 2015, at 1:07 p.m. ET at Rogers Centre. You can watch the contest live on the MLB Network.
