The Toronto Blue Jays are hosting the New York Yankees at Rogers Centre on Friday, looking to even up the season series at four all. It\u2019s a battle of former Cy Young winners, too, with Gerrit Cole set to take the mound for New York and Shane Bieber toeing the bump for Toronto.<\/p>\n
The Yankees are -142 moneyline favorites in the series opener with the run line set at 1.5 and the total set at eight runs. Here is a preview of the Friday night showdown featuring odds and lines from\u00a0DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a>.<\/p>\n More MLB Content & Betting Picks<\/p>\n Yankees at Blue Jays prediction, preview<\/p>\n Cole has been dependable, if not his usual elite self, since returning from Tommy John surgery in late May. He is sitting at 6-5 with a 3.35 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 9.7 strikeouts per nine innings and a 2.0 WAR through 14 starts. Just since the start of July, however, the 35-year-old righty is 4-2 with a 2.72 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings. His 2.31 FIP over that same seven-start stretch suggests that he has been getting a little unlucky, too. Cole\u2019s fastball velocity is back up to where it was during his 2023 AL Cy Young campaign, ranking in the 85th percentile in Fastball Run Value, per Baseball Savant<\/a>. His 5.2% walk rate also puts him in the 94th percentile, making it tough for opponents to rack up baserunners.<\/p>\n Unfortunately for the Blue Jays, their lineup draws the second-fewest walks per game in all of MLB. They also boast the fifth-worst home OPS and fourth-fewest runs per home game in baseball, which can partially be attributed to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.\u2019s lack of pop in Toronto. In the first year of his 14-year, $500 million contract, Vladdy owns just a .645 OPS at home with a grand total of zero home runs. Ernie Clement leads the AL with 28 doubles this season, though, while Japanese rookie Kazuma Okamoto has twice as many homers as any of his teammates with 24. A lot could be riding on Jes\u00fas S\u00e1nchez, who has a .901 OPS at home and .580 OPS on the road, as well as an .801 OPS against righties and a .366 OPS versus lefties.<\/p>\n Bieber\u2019s 5.48 ERA and 1.664 WHIP are far and away the highest of his storied nine-year career in the majors, all while his 6.8 strikeouts per nine innings are his lowest yet. Still, the Blue Jays aren\u2019t too far removed from a 4-1 stretch in Bieber\u2019s starts, during which he settled things down with a 3.00 ERA in spite of his 4.9 walks per nine innings. Even when Bieber allowed five earned runs, six hits and three walks at the Phillies last Sunday, Toronto still managed to take the contest to 12 innings before losing.<\/p>\n The Yankees could take advantage of Bieber\u2019s 13th percentile walk rate, considering they already rank sixth in walks drawn per game. Bieber ranking in the 10th percentile in strikeout rate \u2013\u00a0as well as below average in both whiff and chase rate \u2013\u00a0might spare a New York lineup that averages the fifth-most strikeouts per game in MLB. A few of the Yankees\u2019 key bats are certainly seeking out a bounce-back showing, including Ben Rice and Jazz Chisholm. Rice is batting .115 with a .481 OPS across his last 15 games, while Chisholm is batting .121 with a .449 OPS in the month of August.<\/p>\n Some fresh blood has kept New York afloat with Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton still out. Top shortstop prospect George Lombard is batting .276 with an .827 OPS and four defensive runs saved through eight career games. Trade deadline acquisition Luis Garcia Jr., meanwhile, is hitting .311 with a .940 OPS since July 26, striking out just three times in eight games with the Yankees.<\/p>\n Yankees at Blue Jays pick, best bet<\/p>\n