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The Yankees vs. Mets line for September 18 was hovering around EVEN for both sides.
NEW YORK YANKEES (80-65) at NEW YORK METS (83-63)
Sportsbook.ag Line: NY Yankees -109, NY Mets -101, Total: 7
The Mets host the Yankees on Friday night for the first game in this crucial subway series.
Both the Yankees and the Mets had a day off on Thursday, so they’ll be coming into this game a bit refreshed. The Yankees currently trail the Blue Jays by 3.5 games in the AL East, so they’ll need to start winning some games soon. They have just 17 games left to make up ground.
The Mets, meanwhile, are eight games ahead of the Nationals in the NL East. Prior to losing their last two games, this team had won eight straight contests.
This game features a very exciting matchup on the mound, as RHP Masahiro Tanaka (12-6, 3.40 ERA, 132 K) of the Yankees goes toe-to-toe with LHP Steven Matz (3-0, 1.87 ERA, 22 K) of the Mets. The Yankees are an impressive 42-21 against the money line after having won two of their last three games this season. They are also 49-33 against the money line when the money line is +125 to -125 this season. The Mets, however, are an even more impressive 21-4 against the money line after six consecutive games versus division rivals on the year.
DH Alex Rodriguez (Rest) is not expected to start for the Yankees on Friday. The team is already without 1B Mark Teixeira (Shin) for the remainder of the season. The Mets are relatively healthy entering this game as their only major injuries are in the starting rotation with RHP Zack Wheeler (Elbow) out for the year.
The Yankees will be sending Masahiro Tanaka to the mound on Friday and he has been pitching incredibly recently. In Tanaka’s past two starts, he has allowed just one earned run over 15.0 innings. Tanaka struck out seven batters against the Blue Jays in a win on Sep. 13 and 10 batters against the Orioles in a 2-1 loss on Sep. 8. He has only faced the Mets once in his career, but he threw a complete game shutout in that matchup. Tanaka struck out eight batters in that game, but this is a different Mets team he is facing. He’ll need to keep his off-speed pitches down or the Mets will surely send a few out of the park in this game.
Offensively, the Yankees have been extremely hit-or-miss this season. 1B Greg Bird (.248, 7 HR, 21 RBI in 29 GP) has been the guy producing for them recently. Bird has two homers and four RBI over the past two games for the Yanks and will continue to be counted on for production as Teixeira’s replacement at first place.
OF Jacoby Ellsbury (.253, 7 HR, 30 RBI) ended a five-game hitless streak on Wednesday, going 2-for-5 in the game. He’ll need to start getting on base for this team or it will be hard for them to put up runs. The Yankees rely on Ellsbury to give them a base runner early in games and he has not been doing it lately.
Steven Matz has been limited to just four starts this season due to an injury he suffered in July shortly after being called up. Regardless, all Matz has done has been provide this team with yet another incredible arm in the rotation. Over the past two starts, Matz has allowed just three earned runs in a total of 10.1 innings. He’ll need to keep his cool on Friday, though, as this is a very big spot for a young pitcher. He has allowed four homers in his 24.0 innings on the mound this season and that doesn’t bode very well for him against a Yankees team that can hit one out at any moment.
If the Mets are going to win this game then it will likely mean that OF Yoenis Cespedes (.294, 35 HR, 103 RBI) snapped out of his slump. Cespedes is 0-for-8 over the past two games and this team is very dependent on his offense. He is the only player on this team to find success against Tanaka in his career, going 3-for-10 with two RBI against the pitcher.
C Travis d’Arnaud (.293, 12 HR, 41 RBI) and 3B David Wright (.303, 3 HR, 10 RBI) will also need to get their bats going in this one. Wright has been hitting well over the past few games, going 6-for-15 with three RBI over the past four contests.
