Nailbiter Bet: Rangers And Yankees

Rangers vs. Yankees, 12:35 ET

I had a play in this same matchup yesterday. I took the Rangers to win through five innings, but they ended up tied after five. That's actually fine as it was a push, but this was the reason I took them for five innings instead of the whole game. The Yankees are the better team, but the pitcher was better for the Rangers. Today we have a similar situation and I'm going to try and get a win instead of a push as the Rangers take on the Yankees to close out the series.

The Rangers have now lost three straight games and are at just .500 for the season. I mentioned this yesterday, but the team needs to figure things out sooner rather than later. The club is seven games under .500 on the road this season. Championship teams, even playoff teams, aren't that bad on the road regularly. If they find a way to get that to improve, they should be in the battle later this season for the divisional crown. The biggest problem seems to be their offense. For the season, they are only hitting .229 and have scored 100 fewer runs than the Yankees. The Yankees also have played two fewer games than the Rangers. The pitching hasn't been the issue, as demonstrated by Jacob deGrom yesterday. Today should be good too with Nathan Eovadli on the bump. Eovaldi has been very good for the Rangers since coming over. This season, he has been as good as any pitcher in the league, going 4-2 with a 1.61 ERA, and a 0.77 WHIP. Yankees hitters have gotten the best of him, specifically Aaron Judge and DJ LeMahieu, who are a combined 30-for-88 against him. 

Nathan Eovaldi has pitched well for the Rangers, but he's not the best pitcher in this game. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

In some regards having the goal of a World Series win each year is a good thing. Maybe I should rephrase that, as every team's goal should be to win the World Series. Having the expectation that you will win or compete for the World Series each year is a good thing. For fans it means they shouldn't have to watch bad teams. For players, it means you're constantly competing and have the resources needed to compete. The Yankees fall into that category, and, at least for now, the squad certainly looks like they will compete for the trophy once again this year. To help their cause today is Carlos Rodon. I've been on the Rodon bandwagon for years now, and I fully expected his first Yankees year to be a successful one. It wasn't great, but this year has been more successful as he has a 5-3 record with a 3.17 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP. Rangers hitters have really struggled against Rodon though, hitting just .197 in 66 at-bats.

This is a game that probably sees the Rangers extend their losing streak. I like backing Eovaldi, but like I said yesterday, the Yankees are a better team and the Rangers just have the better pitcher. Today the gap isn't quite as wide as it was yesterday. I'm going to play the safer option here and back the under. This game shouldn't see too many runs with these hurlers on the hill. Just like yesterday, the first five is probably safer than the full game. 

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