In historic New York, at the storied Yankee Stadium on a Monday night, the birds from Canada will be flying in for an AL East MLB match up, when the Toronto Blue Jays visit the New York Yankees.
The Jays are coming in finishing up a three game series with the Houston Astros. Despite the two teams taking a game each, on Sunday’s match, the Jays won by a 9-2 margin.
The Yanks played the Rays over the weekend and they were able to bag two wins, on Sunday though Tampa got a little revenge back with a 12-3 win. So both team are coming off 2-1 series win. Jays right-hander RA Dickey will be on the mound for Toronto in Monday’s game. He should be ready to play harder since over his 24 games, he’s had only a 8-12 record this year, and has put up a 4.61 ERA with a 1.34 WHIP in 142.2 innings of play, so things have to improve. In his last time out, Dickey took a no-decision against the Rays with 4.1 innings pitches, six hits and four earned.
The Jays though, outside of pitching have an enviable lineup. Especially now since they are hitting on all cylinders. Josh Donaldson is leading the team on 128 hits with 28 homers, 79 RBI and 93 runs, and teammate Edwin Encarnacion has put up 118 hits with 74 runs, 33 homers and 97 RBI. Even Kevin Pillar is playing well, having 110 hits with 45 runs and 45 RBI.
New Yorks hasn’t announced their Monday starter but surely they will have their big guns ready too. New York has a few strong hitters on their roster too with Didi Gregorius sitting on 115 hits with 50 runs, 15 homers and 52 RBI. Also Starlin Castro has hit 113 times with 53 RBI and 46 runs. And Jacoby Ellsbury has 107 hits with 49 runs and 38 RBI. That’s nothing to scoff at.
Luckily, the Jays are 4-1 in Dickey’s last five road starts when they face a team who has a winning record. They are 8-20 in Dickey’s last 28 starts against the American League East though. Toronto has been playing well since they’re 17-7 in their last 24 against the American League East, and 7-3 in their last 10 road games. So the odds are looking up in their favour.
The Yanks are 6-2 in their last eight game ones of a series, so they will want to start off well. They are 4-1 in their last five against the American League East too so they could take game one. New York has a good record in their last six home games being 4-2. In their last five, they are 4-1. The Yankees will look to keep their momentum going in this series, but since this is a lost season, Toronto will most likely have the edge.
Russell Martin and Aaron Hicks have been stellar on both sides of the ball. Martin for the Jays, hit another homer Sunday, a day after his three-run HR was the difference maker in Toronto’s win over Houston. He’s coming back to Yankee Stadium, where he played the 2011-12 season with the Yankees so he’ll want to win. Hicks for the Yanks hit a three-run homer in Saturday’s 8-4 win over Tampa, hot so hard that the shot landed on the second deck of Yankee Stadium. He’s been hot since Aug. 2, when the Yankees moved Carlos Beltran at the trade deadline, Hicks has picked up the hitting pace at .314 with three homers and six RBI in 11 games prior to Sunday. To compare, before that the outfielder was hitting only .185 with three homers over an 87-game stretch. So he could make a difference.
What bettors need to know is that New York hit five homers in total vs. Tampa on Saturday, which included a pair by 1B Tyler Austin and RF Aaron Judge, who both made their MLB debuts. The two went back-to-back in the second inning, becoming the first MLB teammates to record their first homers in their first at-bats in the same game. That’s a pretty cool record. Judge’s homer travelled 446 feet, which was the longest home run for the Yankees since Statcast began measuring homers for the MLB in 2015.
The Yankees are not the same team since the Jays last faced them in May with many changeups. The organization has undergone a renewal movement with lots of youth. Veterans like Carlos Beltran got traded, Mark Teixeira retires at end of year, and Alex Rodriguez was released. Andrew Miller was traded and Aroldis Chapman was also traded, so they are all gone or are playing their last games in the league.
That means anything can happen, but Toronto knows with the playoffs coming up soon, they need to tighten the reigns and get focused for a post-season which should be spectacular for the snowbirds.
Our Pick: Toronto takes series, 2-1, and win first game in NY 7-5
