The fourth and final game of the latest Red Sox vs. Yankees chapter will take place on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, and Boston has had the upper hand in this matchup of late, winning the first three games of this series and eight straight over its archrival. This series was important for both teams as they hold two of the three American League Wild Card spots. Thanks to three wins so far, the Red Sox now hold the top AL Wild Card spot while the Yankees hold the second spot. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. at Yankee Stadium. 

Lefty Carlos Rodon (13-7, 3.24 ERA) gets the start in front of his home crowd while Dustin May (7-9, 4.59 ERA) starts on the road for Boston. Rodon has had his best year in pinstripes so far and is coming off consecutive quality starts. May is making his fourth start for Boston since joining the team at the trade deadline, and while his first start in a Red Sox uniform was subpar, he has spun quality starts in each of his last two outings and has a 2.87 ERA with his new team.

The Yankees are -169 favorites (wager $169 to win $100) on the money line, according to the latest SportsLine consensus odds, and the Red Sox are +142 underdogs (wager $100 to win $142) on the road. The over/under is set at 8.5 runs with the Over favored at -115.

Angelo Magliocca, also known as “Amags,” is a regular contributor to The Early Edge and CBS Sports HQ, is a seasoned MLB handicapper up 123.5 units over the last three MLB seasons. He’s put together a same-game parlay at for Sunday Night Baseball that includes both Rodon and a star Red Sox slugger.

Sunday Night Baseball Same-Game Parlay: +355 (0.5 units)Carlos Rodon 6+ KsAlex Bregman Over 1.5 Hits + Runs + RBI Yankees ML

The Yankees and Red Sox square off in the final game of this weekend series, and the “rivalry” games between these two have been missing something for years. There is no longer the power struggle atop the AL East between these two clubs, and frankly, the Yankees have been putrid in this matchup for the better part of this season, so I’m not sure how much bad blood there really is here anymore.

Carlos Rodon (13-7, 3.24 ERA) will hope to stop the bleeding against a Red Sox offense that’s outscored New York 19-4 over the last three games. Trying to avoid the sweep at home, I’m backing Rodon to strike out at least five batters against a Red Sox order that has just two hitters in the projected lineup with a sub-25% strikeout rate against lefties. Rodon is still sporting solid underlying strikeout metrics even as the season has worn on, and he’s topped 150 innings so far. The velocity is still there, and he’s been a bulldog on the mound, consistently pitching into the sixth inning and always asking for more opportunities. Tonight, I’m backing Rodon to rack up at least six strikeouts, which would put him right around a strikeout per inning here. If he can last into that sixth inning again, I think he’s able to grab some strikeouts for us. 

Backing the Yankees is admittedly a tough bet to make right now, but beating a team four times in a weekend may be even tougher. These are still major leaguers, and on Sunday Night Baseball in the Bronx, I’m expecting the Yankees to be motivated to salvage at least one game from this series. Additionally, New York’s bullpen was given a much-needed day off yesterday, as Tim Hill and Paul Blackburn ate up innings in the blowout loss. 

With their high-leverage guys all ready to go here and Rodon on the bump to start, I like the Yankees chances of competing at a high level from a pitching perspective here. The bats will certainly have to get something going against Dustin May (7-9, 4.59 ERA), but his struggles with lefties and home runs could spell trouble against a Yankees order that both hits an abundance of home runs and can stack left-handed batters in the lineup. 

One hitter who was a dud during the massive scoring barrage yesterday was Alex Bregman. With six hits across the first two games of the series, he went hitless yesterday, and he’s in a great spot to go Over his 1.5 Hits + Runs + RBI line. Hitting over .380 against left-handed pitching this year, Bregman doesn’t have a ton of success against Rodon specifically, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he bucks that trend tonight with how good he’s been against southpaws this year. This also helps us get a little negative correlation to get the odds up over +300 here to use those bonuses.