While the Chicago White Sox sit comfortably atop the AL Central, the New York Yankees will be battling for their playoff lives over the remainder of the season. The teams take a break from the grind of their regular season schedule to compete in the “Field of Dreams” game on Thursday. Yep, he built it and they came. MLB will play its first game in Iowa at the site of the iconic 1989 film with a makeshift 8,000 seat park hosting the event. This isn’t an exhibition game with stats and records counting, and the Yankees need as many wins as they can get to climb into a playoff spot. They’ve played better since making a few deals at the trade deadline, but will it be enough to get them back to the postseason? Recent acquisition Andrew Heaney opposes Carlos Rodon in a battle of lefties.
First pitch for this AL matchup between the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. ET on Thursday, August 12, 2021 from Field of Dreams in Dyersville, IA. The matchup will air live on FOX. Bet on MLB odds and player props at BookMaker.eu every day of the season.
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Odds Analysis
This game will be unlike any other the teams will play, or have played. Most of the attention will be given to the stadium and the events surrounding the actual contest. However, when it comes time for first pitch the clubs will be dialed in. While the field dimensions are MLB standards, there won’t be a lot of fans due to the limited capacity. For most it’ll feel like a minor league outing. Still, the results count and the Yankees have played better since swinging a few deadline deals. They went 7-2 in their first nine post-deadline games to climb back into the AL East hunt. They entered the week just 2.5 games out of a wild card spot. While they’ve played better lately the Yankees are still nearly $500 in the red on the moneyline for the season. The Sox hit a minor bump in the road last week dropping two straight to the Royals. They rebounded by sweeping the Cubs over the weekend to get back on track. With a +121 run differential, the Sox have been money on the runline up over $1300 against the spread.
Probable Pitchers
Andrew Heaney: Overall the numbers haven’t been great for Heaney, who is 7-8 with a 5.45 ERA. And he hasn’t been any better in two starts since donning the pinstripes. The lefty allowed four runs in each of his two starts with his new club yielding a total of five home runs across 10 innings. There’s never been a question about his stuff, but Heaney has never put it all together during his eight years in the bigs. Injury issues affected him earlier in his career, but he’s never won more than nine games in a season and only once compiled an ERA below 4.00. Opponents are hitting .252 against him this season with an OPS of 1.087 in his two New York starts. It’s a small sample size and hopefully for the Yankees those numbers improve since Heaney is likely to get a few more starts with several starters still on the IL.
Carlos Rodon: Following one of his worst outings of the season Rodon bounced back with one of his best in a win over the Cubs. Two starts ago the lefty gave up eight hits and four runs in 4.0 innings against the Royals, matching his shortest stint of the season. He responded on Saturday with 5.0 shutout innings of two-hit ball with 11 strikeouts in a 4-0 victory. He’s just a few innings shy of qualifying for the league leaders so his 2.38 ERA isn’t on the books. If it was he’d rank sixth in MLB in that category. And he’s been nearly unhittable this season with only 75 hits allowed over 109.2 innings with an impressive 0.96 WHIP. In fact Rodon was unhittable earlier in the year when he no-hit the Indians in April. He tossed a season-high 114 pitches in that outing with seven strikeouts and no walks. The Sox are 12-7 in games Rodon starts with the UNDER 4-0-1 in his last five outings.
Yankees vs. White Sox Prediction
On paper this appears to be advantage Sox. They have the better starter on the bump and their offense should improve with stars returning. Eloy Jimenez hit three homers in nine games upon returning from injury and Luis Robert is ready to rejoin the club this week. The Sox are also motivated by a three-game sweep at the hands of the Yankees earlier in the campaign. It will be a unique atmosphere for a MLB game, but I expect the Sox to take care of business.
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