The MLB season is officially underway and pretty soon, so too will the renewal of the fierce divisional rivalry between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.
The two teams are slated for their first meeting of the year this Tuesday through Thursday, in a three-game series taking place on Boston’s home turf at Fenway Park (Game 1, Tuesday, April 10 @ 7:10 PM ET; Game 2, Wednesday, April 11 @ 7:10 PM ET; Game 3, Thursday, April 12 @ 7:10 PM ET).
We will first give our New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox preview before settling on our Game 1 betting predictions and picks.
There is tremendous history driving this three-game series as the Yankees/Red Sox are considered to have one of, if not the greatest rivalry of all-time across all sports. It has raged on for years with both teams having periods of great success especially recently. The Yankees and Red Sox are constantly fighting for dominance and supremacy in the AL East, the division last won by the Red Sox in 2017.
This year, it looks like Boston could once again reign supreme as following a loss on opening day, the Red Sox have been baseball’s best team. Boston has won eight in a row to take their record to 8-1, which is the team’s best start in franchise history. They are doing this behind new manager, Alex Cora. In his first year, Cora has really helped the Red Sox excel and he’ll be a contributing factor in this series no doubt. Much like his counterpart with the Yankees, Aaron Boone, Cora has experience with the rivalry, only as a player and not a manager. A member of the Red Sox when they won the World Series in 2007, Cora was a bit of a Yankee killer. That year, he batted .357 against New York with five hits in 14 at-bats, three runs and four RBI. Now, he is going to be managing a team that he hopes can have the same kind of success over the Yankees that he had.
The Yankees meanwhile, just 5-5, have had their struggles. Despite bringing in Giancarlo Stanton in the offseason in an effort to create a new Murderer’s Row of sorts with him and 2017 AL Rookie of the Year, Aaron Judge, things haven’t quite gone to plan for New York. Stanton homered twice in his debut but hasn’t done much else since. The sensational slugger, who hit 59 home runs and had 132 RBI last year, has just seven hits in 42 at-bats and has already struck out 20 times. Judge has fared better, with seven RBI and a .289 batting average, but it is still not exactly the level of production New York was quite hoping for when they united the two sluggers in the offseason.
New York needs to get Stanton going if they hope to compete with the Red Sox, not just in this series but throughout the entire season. Boston meanwhile, will look to show that this 8-1 start is far from a fluke. For these two teams, the season may have already started, but it is not until the first pitch is thrown in the rivalry series, that things really start going in Boston and New York.
Game One: (NYY) Luis Severino vs (BOS) Chris Sale
On paper, this looks like a great pitching duel, one that really does symbolize the type of games these two teams have been known to have.
For the Yankees, the man on the mound will be Luis Severino. The team’s ace and opening day starter, Severino surrendered just one hit in 5+ innings. His following start, he gave up just two runs in 7+ innings. Severino has looked good this season but that’s not the only reason to be excited about him pitching in game one if you are a Yankees fan. The 24-year old righty pitched his first full season as a starter last year and did so with two victories over the Red Sox, allowing just one run and seven hits in 14 innings.
Opposing him is Chris Sale, a lefty, and a little more seasoned ace. Just 29, Sale has been in the majors since 2010, pitching the first seven years of his career in Chicago for the White Sox. Coming to the Red Sox in 2017, Sale continued to do what he does best and that’s being one of the best pitchers in baseball. Throughout his career, Sale has never finished a season with an ERA higher than 3.50, an incredible feat for anyone, but especially for a pitcher in the American League. This year, he is off to more of the same, pitching 11 innings with 15 strikeouts and an ERA of just 0.82. In his career against the Yankees, Sale has a 1.81 ERA and has held opponents to just a .193 batting average.
No one has really been able to hit Sale this season and at home, that success should continue. He’ll have a tough pitching match-up against a very game Severino but with the way the Red Sox are playing, he’ll probably have what his opponent doesn’t. Sale will likely be able to work comfortably with an early lead and ultimately, this could make all the difference.
Our Preview’s New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox Game 1 Predictions with Picks
Turning to our battle with the United States’ oddsmakers, these are my predictions for the best bets to be had in Game 1:
- The first pick is to take the Red Sox -1.5 on the spread @ best odds of +160 with 5Dimes.
- The second Yankees vs Red Sox betting prediction is to look for a total under seven, as this one does expect to be closely contested between two of the AL East’s top arms. Go below 7 @ best odds of +100 (evens) with Bookmaker.
Marilee writes on NFL, MLB, NBA & tennis for USA Betting. Another area of her sporting journalistic expertise is pro wrestling. A native of Philadelphia and a big Eagles fan, she has been a sports writer for many major websites including Bleacher Report and Rant Sports. She started her journalistic career early, as sports editor for her college newspaper.