MLB Playoff Betting -- Can Tanaka Find Magic Again For Yankees?

  • In Charles Jay
  • Thu, Oct 17th, 2019 2:45:13 pm
  • By Charles Jay - Exclusive to OSGA


The Houston Astros wil try to take a 3-1 lead in the ALCS on Thursday, but they'll have to get by Masahiro Tanaka in order to do it.

The New York Yankees hit the second-most home runs in the major leagues this season, and there is little doubt that if they had Giancarlo Stanton healthy for the entire campaign, the all-time big league record would have been shattered. Yet there is an Achilles heel on this team, and that is the inability to put more than one starting pitcher out there who could be considered an "ace."

Don't get us wrong; they have a lot of arms who have accomplished something in the majors. And we don't need to go down the list. But what they do NOT have is a Justin Verlander or a Gerrit Cole, and that has been the difference in the series, as the Houston Astros have taken a 2-1 lead in the ALCS and have Zack Greinke on the hill for Game 4, which was rescheduled for Thursday after a washout on Wednesday.

Yankees playoff free pickMasahiro Tanaka gets the start for the guys in pinstripes, and what they are banking on is that in situations like this, he is their equivalent of an ace.

Aside from the fact that isn't necessarily a "distance" guy, he just might be.

Officially, the first pitch is at 8:08 PM ET at Yankee Stadium. At BetAnySports, you'll get reduced juice when you wager on the website and can use Live Betting Ultra to put down bets in real time after the contest begins.

And here are the reduced juice odds, with the Yankees favored:

New York Yankees (Tanaka) -127
Houston Astros (Greinke) +122

Over 8.5 Runs (-105)
Under 8.5 Runs (-105)

Yankees -1.5 Runs (+145)
Astros +1.5 Runs (-155)

You know, it's hard to say that you have a guy who can turn on the switch when the post-season comes around, but that appears to be exactly the case with Tanaka, who threw six shutout innings in Game 1. He has been phenomenal in his career at this stage of the season, with a 1.32 post-season ERA. And so when you have him going on the mound, you could conceivably look at it as having an advantage over Greinke, who is a former Cy Young winner with an 18-6 record this year, but still, one who has struggled some during the playoffs (8.39 ERA as of now this year).

Houston Astros MLB playoff pickWhat this rainout did was allow Tanaka to come in and pitch after a normal rest period, and give the bullpen an extra day of rest as well, which they would all admit is something they could have used. And because the Yankees are down two games to one, this becomes one of those "must win" things, to use the cliche, because there are still two games to play in Houston, if necessary. That means nobody is going to hold that bullpen back.

Tanaka can't go that far - he did admit that he was tired after tossing just 68 pitches in Game 1 - so the best they could possibly hope for out of him is five or six solid frames. Then the guys like Britton, Ottavino and Chapman come in. That may leave the Bronx Bombers in a rather compromised position on Friday, but at this juncture, there aren't too many "tomorrows."

It's hard to say that the Yankees have been a little too pre-occupied with the idea of the Astros stealing signs. They were making accusations about "whistles" from the dugout that they heard that might have been signals of pitches coming. In Game 1, that didn't do much for Houston, and truth be told, not in Game 2 either. And they got cleared for any wrongdoing by the American League, which probably doesn't want to see scandals override what is going on out on the field.

At any rate, if the Astros are trying to do anything, it would be a lot more difficult in the Bronx, where they do not control the atmosphere.

Yeah, it would be nice if Stanton could play, and one would not expect that guys like Edwin Encarnacion (1-18), Didi Gregorius (1-12) and Gio Urshela (2-11) have not been swinging the bat well. But this is a team where there are no easy outs, and maybe we see Aaron Hicks (?), so I wouldn't expect a lag in offense to last for an extended period; that is, if the starter ISN'T Verlander or Cole.

That is the Yankees' dilemma for the series, but tonight there might be a temporary cure for what's been ailing them.

BetAnySports does the right thing by you in baseball, by giving you five-cent lines through reduced juice...... And you can place wagers while the contest is in progress with Live Betting Ultra.............. Open an account with debit cards, credit cards, person-to-person transfers and also Bitcoin, the digital currency which is headache-free because it NEVER incurs a transaction fee!


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