Media by Associated Press – Milwaukee Brewers’ Kolten Wong gestures as he runs the bases after hitting his third home run of the night, during the eighth inning of the team’s baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
The playoff races in MLB are heading into the final stretch. With less than ten games to play after the weekend, here is a look at the top three teams to bet on in Friday’s baseball action.
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are desperate to stay in the playoff race, and they got a boost Thursday when Kolten Wong hit three home runs in a 5-1 series-opening win.
The Brewers continue the series in Cincinnati on Friday against a Reds team that is 3-12 over their last 13 games and 15 games under .500 at home.
The Brewers get to tee off on LHP Mike Minor on Friday. Minor is 4-12 on the season with a 6.06 ERA and 24 home runs allowed on the season. The lefty has allowed nine runs over eight innings in his last two starts, and he is 0-2 with ten runs allowed in his last three home starts.
Milwaukee starter Eric Lauer is 2-0 against the Reds this season, though he lost his last two starts on the road. One of those came in Colorado, and Lauer is 3-4 since the start of August.
The Brewers are 25-23 against LHP this season. Their margin for error is razor thin as they sit 7.5 games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central and 2.5 behind Philadelphia in the Wild Card race with just 12 games to play.
New York Yankees
All eyes are on Aaron Judge, and the chase for #61 as the Yankees host hated rivals Boston this weekend. He walked three times and was 0-for-2 on Thursday against the Red Sox. Friday, the Yankees send Gerrit Cole (12-7, 3.41) to the mound against Boston LHP Rich Hill (7-7, 4.70).
Judge is 2-for-4 in his career against Hill but doesn’t have a home run. Aaron Hucks and Anthony Rizzo have taken the lefty deep though they haven’t faced him in 2022. Hill is 1-2 in his last four starts, with 13 runs allowed over 13 ⅔ innings.
Cole, meanwhile, is 2-0 in September with 32 strikeouts in 17 ⅔ innings. He is 2-0 in four starts this season against the Red Sox with 32 strikeouts in 23 innings and 14 runs allowed. He did give up three homers in Boston on September 13, but the Yankees still won the game 7-6
The Yankees are 10-6 against the Red Sox this season, 5-2 at home. They would love nothing better than to get even closer to an AL East title and have Judge tie the AL home run record against their rivals this weekend.
Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays started a crucial weekend series against the Toronto Blue Jays with a 10-5 win on Thursday.
Tampa is now one game behind Toronto in the Wild Card race, and the pitching matchup on Friday favors the Rays. Lefty Jeffrey Springs (9-4, 2.45) goes for Tampa against RHP Mitch White (1-6, 5.05) for Toronto.
White is 0-4 since August 1, and he’s gone five innings just one time. He was knocked around by Baltimore on September 6 in his most recent start, allowing five runs in just 2⅓ innings.
Springs has allowed just two earned runs over his last 20 ⅓ innings of work. He shutout Toronto over six innings just ten days ago, scattering three hits and striking out five. He also had 4⅔ shutout innings against the Jays back in May in a no-decision.
Tampa leads the series 9-7 this season, and they are 4-2 at home. A win on Friday gets the teams even in the Wild Card race with 11 games left to play.
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