If you love baseball, baseball odds, and the smell of leather in your mitt, the early autumn crispness of a division title race and just about everything else about the nation pastime than you just might think you’ve died and gone to heaven.
Tonight, the Yankees (92-60) play host the Tampa Bay Rays (90-61) in the fourth and final game of what has been wild series in the Bronx with the AL East division title up in the air. Heading into this baseball odds matchup the Bronx Bombers have a slim 1.5 game lead in the AL East with their magic number at 10 games.
Granted part of the drama has been sucked out this series by the fact that both of these teams win or lose tonight and win or lose the division race, are both more or less guaranteed a spot in the MLB playoffs. But that doesn’t mean that the AL East title isn’t important to both of these teams. For one, both of these squads wants bragging rights and more importantly the winner will have home field advantage throughout the MLB odds postseason whereas the loser faces the possibility of playing on the road in the post season –something both of these teams would like to avoid.
Both teams will be putting their best foot forward in this MLB odds thriller as Yankees ace CC Sabathia (20-6, 3.05 ERA) will go head to head with Rays ace David Price (17-6, 2.79 ERA). These are two of the best pitchers in baseball, the two front-runners for the AL Cy Young and this might just be the best pitchers duel of the year given all that’s riding on the outcome of the game. The winner of this match will not only give its team a much needed victory but also advance their Cy Young cause as well.
Price has been pitching well of late winning his last two decisions and giving up just 5 runs in his past four starts while averaging nearly 8 innings of work. But only one of those games was on the road and none of them were in raucous Yankee Stadium.
Sabathia has been less solid recently winning just one of his past 3 starts and giving up five earned runs just a 6 inning just two weeks ago. But the last time he faced Rays, just 9 days ago, he blanked the lineup.
As good as this MLB odds series has been its tough to pick a winner but you have to like the Yankees chances at home with CC on the mound.