Cole At This Price? Pounce On It

Yankees vs. Dodgers, 7:15 ET

There aren't too many teams in the league that have a better following than these two squads. The Yankees are arguably the premier team in the entire league. They have a case full of trophies and rings to go along with their storied history of amazing (and amazingly overrated) players. The Dodgers are one of those teams that doesn't have quite the same amount of hatred that the Yankees get, but there is something iconic about the Dodger blue and the LA on the cap.

I talked about the similarities between these two squads with their history and the reverence in the league, but they are very identical this season. Both got off to a slow start and have picked it up. Unfortunately for the Yankees, the Rays got off to such a great start that they are going to be in second place or further back chasing for quite a while. The Dodgers were behind the Diamondbacks (yes, that's correct, not the Padres) and are now in front, and I would guess probably won't fall back further in the standings all year. The hitting for both teams was a bit disappointing but has turned around. The pitching for the Dodgers is worse than I expected, but I think with the health of some of their pitchers, that should improve.

Gerrit Cole takes the ball against the Dodgers on Saturday. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)

Today, Gerrit Cole takes the hill for the Yankees. He looked like a man on a mission this season, but lately he has reverted to some of the bad results. He led the league in home runs allowed last season and he has allowed eight home runs over his past five starts. May was very tough on him as well as he allowed 19 runs over 33 innings. In six starts, he allowed two or fewer earned runs in three of them. In the other three he allowed five earned runs. To try and combat one of the best pitchers in baseball, the Dodgers are sending Michael Grove to the mound. He is coming back from the injured list, but he wasn't really special before he was injured. He had four games under his belt and allowed 15 earned runs in 16 innings. Nine of the runs came in one game against the Diamondbacks, but still, most starts are looking like bullpen games.

As long as Cole keeps the ball in the yard, this is an absurdly low line for him. Cole at -110 against a pitcher that doesn't appear to be anything special? Sign me up for this one for multiple units. I'm taking Cole and the Yankees to win this game and win the first five innings. The line just isn't acceptable to me and I see a lot of value here.

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