Game: New York Yankees @ Seattle Mariners
Time: 10:10 p.m. ET
Odds: Yankees -120, Mariners +100
Total: 7.5
It’s been a while since the Seattle Mariners made the postseason. In fact, of all four major North American sports leagues, the longest playoff drought belongs to Seattle. The Mariners haven’t played in a postseason game since 2000. They are currently right in the thick of the AL wild-card race and go up against the team likely to earn the top spot in the AL playoffs – the New York Yankees.
That won’t scare the Mariners as they took two of three games from the Yankees in New York just last week. That sent the Yankees on a five-game spiral as New York was then swept by St. Louis over the weekend. The Yankees have now won just four of their last 12 games.
Tonight’s game will be a pitching rematch of a game from last week. The Yankees Jameson Taillon (10-2, 3.96) will go up against Seattle’s Logan Gilbert (10-4, 3.09). Neither pitcher had much success against the other last week. Taillon gave up five earned runs in 4.2 innings while Gilbert allowed six in 5.1 frames.
Taillon has three career starts against Seattle. He is 2-0 with a 3.57 ERA. He was not involved in the decision in last week’s game. Gilbert did not get a decision in that game either. He has started two games against the Yankees and is 1-0 with a 4.38 ERA. The Mariners have won six of Gilbert’s last eight starts. Seattle also had a stretch of nine wins in 10 Gilbert starts between May 28 and July 10.
Before last week’s blow-up, the Yankees won Taillon’s previous three starts. He allowed just three earned runs in 14.2 innings. What could plague Taillon tonight is the absence of 1B Anthony Rizzo. He has missed the Yankees’ last three games with a back injury. Rizzo is among the MLB leaders in home runs with 27. Aaron Judge leads the majors with 43. New York had gone 19 straight games with a home run until the weekend series with St. Louis.
Seattle has its own injury problems. AL All-Star and Rookie of the Year favorite Julio Rodriguez is still on the 10-day injured list. He is not eligible to be activated until Wednesday. The Yankees and Mariners will play the series finale that day.
New York has been struggling on the road winning just one of their last seven away games. While the Yankees have lost five straight and lost their last series to the Mariners, they are 10-4 SU in the last 14 games against Seattle. The Mariners are 4-2 in their last six games and 5-2 in their last seven at home. In the last six games at home against the Yankees, it’s been a different story. The Mariners are just 1-5 in those six games.
The total has gone Over in four of Seattle’s last six games. The Over is 6-3 in the Yankees’ last nine games, which comes as no surprise since New York leads the majors in runs per game (5.31).