Monday night will feature an East versus West coast battle as the New York Yankees (32-23) take on the Seattle Mariners (28-25). The Mariners will host this one at T-Mobile Park, with first pitch scheduled for 9:40 pm ET.
The Mariners are slight favorites in this one playing at home. They are -134 to win, while the Yankees’ moneyline sits at +116. The runline features New York +1.5 (-182), and the over/under for total runs is eight.
Yankees Look To Keep Strong Start Going
At 32-23, the Yankees have gotten off to a strong start this season. Not only have they been strong at home (19-13), but they have been solid on the road as well at 13-10. In their last 10 games, they have also been rocking as they are 7-3.
The problem for the Yankees is that they play in baseball’s toughest division. Despite their strong start, they still sit in just third in the AL East, seven games behind first place. Knowing that every win will matter, they will look to pick up the road win in the series opener.
Taking the mound for Aaron Boone’s club will be righty Domingo German. In nine games, he is 2-3 with a 3.75 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, and he has 49 strikeouts in 48 innings. German is returning from a 10-day absence for this one after being suspended for a foreign substance, so the Yankees are hoping he can return to form quickly.
Offensively, the Yankees rank 15th overall, averaging 4.50 runs per game. The team is led by Aaron Judge, who is hitting .291/.398/.633 with 15 home runs, 35 runs batted in, and 36 runs scored.
Mariners Hope To Stay Hot
Like the Yankees, the Seattle Mariners have gotten off to a good start, yet they still sit in third in the AL West. Currently 5.5 games back of the AL West lead, the Mariners will look to improve at home, where they are 16-13 to date. Also like New York, they are 7-3 in their last 10 games.
Bryce Miller will look to continue a dominant start to his rookie season. In five games, he is 3-1 with a 1.15 ERA, 0.51 WHIP, and he has struck out 28 in 31.1 innings. He picked up the win in his last start, throwing six shutout innings against the Oakland A’s.
Seattle has been outstanding on the defense end. They rank fourth in scoring defense, allowing opponents an average of 3.88 runs per game. On the offensive side, the Mariners rank 13th in scoring, averaging 4.54 runs per game.
Jarred Kelenic has gotten off to a really strong start for the Mariners at the plate. In 187 at bats, he is hitting .278/.337/.524 and leads the team with 10 home runs. He also has 26 runs batted in and 21 runs scored.
Take The Yankees On The Runline
Looking at the trends, the Yankees are 14-6 in their last 20 games. In their last five games against Seattle, though, they are just 1-4 straight up. Also of note, the UNDER has hit in four of the Yankees’ last five road games.
For Seattle, they are 6-1 in their last seven games overall and 4-1 in their last five at T-Mobile Park. In four of their last six games, the UNDER has also hit.
This one should be a good game that could go either way. The Yankees have the ability to put up a crooked number, but Seattle’s Bryce Miller has been nearly unhittable at times.
With this one being a toss-up, the best bet is probably to take the Yankees on the runline. That means taking New York +1.5 (-182).
