Tigers Have Better Starter Against Yankees

Yankees vs. Tigers, 1:10 ET

While everyone is pumped for the opening of Week 1 of the College Football season, I'm over here circling games that we can bet on for the very short slate of MLB games tonight. Tonight, there are just four games in professional baseball, but that still gives us an opportunity to find some plays to make. The first one I have is between the Yankees and Tigers in an afternoon game.

The Yankees are just looking to get to the finish line at this point. The season is a complete disaster and has to be one of the more disappointing seasons for Yankee fans. They came into the season after winning the division last season and adding Carlos Rodon to the pitching staff. In a big surprise to me, the pitching really wasn't an issue (I thought that would be their downfall), it was the hitting that caused the most amount of issues for this team. Collectively, they are batting just .228, that's worse than their opponent for today's game. They are on a nice little streak right now where they've won the past three games against the Tigers and are now looking to get a sweep. In order to do so, they send Clarke Schmidt to the mound. Schmidt is the owner of an 8-8 record and a 4.51 ERA. Bad news for the Yankees is that the right-hander is worse on the road than he is at home. Part of that though is due to a recent start against the Braves in Atlanta where he allowed eight earned runs over 2.1 innings. But, his two road starts surrounding that stinker were solid enough. He covered 12 innings and allowed just two earned runs. Tigers hitters have very limited experience against Schmidt and they are just 3-for-9 against him.

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - APRIL 09, 2023: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees bats during the eighth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 9, 2023 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Chris Bernacchi/Diamond Images via Getty Images)

The Tigers had a nice campaign for a little while before finally realizing it wasn't going to happen. In what is the worst division in baseball, they still can't seem to make much progress. They traded away one of their best pitchers and tried to trade another. Their hitting is only slightly better than the Yankees. I'm curious about the plan for the future because it doesn't seem like they have that many strong prospects in the pipeline that can get them to the top of the division while the other teams retool. They do have a decent enough starter going today with Matt Manning on the hill. Manning has a 3.93 ERA overall, but like Schmidt, his ERA increases in home and day starts. He's been able to post back-to-back quality starts and the Tigers have won his past three starts. In August, he has allowed 11 earned runs over 29.1 innings, but 10 of those runs have come in his first two games of the month. Since then he has allowed just one earned run over 17.2 innings. He has only faced one Yankee hitter and it isn't even an everyday player.

I'm not sure that I like much about the Tigers and feel like backing them is always a risk, but I do like the way that Manning is throwing the ball. The Yankees are somewhat streaky and are in the middle of a winning streak. The Tigers have lost five straight, but I'm going to take a shot that they don't get swept today. I will protect myself a bit though. I'll take the Tigers through five innings at even money and hope they are winning or tied after five.

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