{"id":598406,"date":"2026-02-28T17:17:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T17:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/598406\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T17:17:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T17:17:19","slug":"how-to-bet-on-yankees-red-sox-blue-jays-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/598406\/","title":{"rendered":"How to bet on Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\tGambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our editorial standards<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n

The Yankees opened as favorites to clinch the AL East<\/a> for the fourth consecutive season. <\/p>\n

With Aaron Judge leading in WAR for three of the last four campaigns and Gerrit Cole expected to return in June, there are worse investments you could make than FanDuel\u2019s +175 tag on the Bombers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The $700 you would have to plunk down to only see $100 on the Dodgers winning the NL West puts that price (and a looming lockout over salary caps) in perspective.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brian Cashman will run it back with the same veteran club that just delivered back-to-back 94-win seasons.<\/p>\n

As usual, a lot of this depends on Judge\u2019s health as he lives out his MVP prime<\/a> \u2014 and that\u2019s a lot of variability to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A full season from Cam Schlittler alongside a bona fide ace in Max Fried is exciting.<\/p>\n

After the Yankees were clobbered by the Blue Jays in the ALDS, other rotations offer a stronger venture.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dylan Cease fills the void left by Chris Bassitt in Toronto<\/a>. Still, the Blue Jays\u2019 depth pales in comparison to the Red Sox, who project as FanGraph\u2019s No. 1 rotation in 2026 and are priced at +280 odds for the division.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last we saw Garrett Crochet, he outmatched Fried in Game 1 of the Wild Card series with 11 strikeouts, one run allowed and no walks in 7 \u2153 innings. No pitcher recorded more strikeouts than Crochet (255), and he pitched a career-high 205 \u2153 innings to collect 18 wins, second-most overall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Crochet is primed to top that total; he pitched five no-decisions in starts where he threw at least six innings and allowed two runs or fewer. He\u2019s gunning for a Cy Young after Tarik Skubal made it two straight. <\/p>\n

The lefty opened a hair behind Skubal as the favorite in the AL Cy Young market<\/a> at +400 odds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Craig Breslow bolstered the rotation\u2019s depth by adding Sonny Gray and Ranger Su\u00e0rez this offseason. At 36, Gray finished No. 9 overall in K\/9 with 10.00. The veteran right-hander complements Crochet with one of baseball\u2019s most diverse arsenals, low walk rates and the endurance to pitch into the seventh inning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Su\u00e0rez has pinpoint command and weak contact inducement; his hard-hit rate ranked within Statcast\u2019s top-two percentile, and his Location+ rating was 13 percent better than the league average.<\/p>\n

Brayan Bello brings a strong groundball profile as the fourth starter, and the newly acquired Johan Oviedo rounds out the rotation with eye-popping velocity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TAMPA,Aaron Judge of the Yankees runs the bases after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning against the Detroit Tigers during a Grapefruit League spring training game at George M. Steinbrenner Field on February 21, 2026. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Defensively, Caleb Durbin could be a better Alex Bregman replacement than most expected with slick defensive potential at the hot corner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Roman Anthony gets to start the season after fulfilling his expectations as the No. 1 prospect in baseball last year, slashing .292\/.396\/.463 and finishing third in AL Rookie of the Year voting despite playing only 71 games.<\/p>\n

Learn all you need to know about MLB Betting<\/p>\n

On the heels of 89 wins, Boston has three bats capable of 20\u00a0home runs in Wilyer Abreu, Trevor Story and Jarren Duran.<\/p>\n

Ceddanne Rafaela adds flickers at the plate, and there\u2019s untapped upside in a promising young pool of Marcelo Mayer, Kristian Campbell and Triston Casas, too.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not discounting the improved Orioles and Rays either, but starting pitching is paramount, and Boston\u2019s rotation can anchor its offense for a run at the AL East crown.<\/p>\n

THE PLAY: Red Sox to Win AL East (+280, FanDuel<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Why Trust New York Post Betting<\/p>\n

Sean Treppedi handicaps the NFL, NHL, MLB and college football for the New York Post. He primarily focuses on picks that reflect market value while tracking trends to mitigate risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2378],"tags":[47,5,684,377,2554,48,4,722,62,185,1272,723,68,282,70,2553],"class_list":{"0":"post-598406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-blue-jays","8":"tag-baltimore-orioles","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-betting","11":"tag-blue-jays","12":"tag-bluejays","13":"tag-boston-red-sox","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-mlb-betting","16":"tag-new-york-yankees","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-sports-betting","19":"tag-sports-picks","20":"tag-tampa-bay-rays","21":"tag-toronto","22":"tag-toronto-blue-jays","23":"tag-torontobluejays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116149397034455386","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}