The Toronto Blue Jays look for their fifth win in a row coming out of the all-star break.
The pregame narrative: Following a sweep of the San Francisco Giants, the Blue Jays grabbed the first game in this series against the New York Yankees. Max Scherzer takes the mound for the Jays on Tuesday for his second outing vs. New York this season.
Check out my Yankees vs. Blue Jays predictions, featuring Scherzer and Addison Barger.
Yankees vs. Blue Jays predictions
Parlay: Blue Jays ML | Barger over 1.5 total bases | Scherzer over 4.5 Ks (+350)
Blue Jays ML (-124): It’s easy to get behind the Jays with how they’re playing. Toronto has won 17 of its last 21 games and should have the pitching advantage on Tuesday.
Scherzer has made four starts since recovering from a thumb injury, allowing three or fewer runs each time.
Has he been great? No, but he’s been servicable and that’s all Toronto’s offence needs in support.
On the other side, Cam Schlittler makes his second career start. He gave up two home runs (three total runs) in his debut against the Seattle Mariners.
He struck out seven, but the Mariners are a tier below the Jays. Toronto is averaging 5.33 runs per game at home this season, where the club has won 11 in a row.
The Jays also strike out the fewest times per game (6.68).
Schlittler would need a masterclass pitching performance to kill the Jays’ momentum, and I don’t see it happening.
MLB SGP legs
Barger over 1.5 total bases (+123): Another thing about Schlittler is that he’s a right-handed pitcher, and that automatically makes this a juicy matchup for Barger.
- Vs. LHPs: .196/.260/.326 (1 HR)
- Vs. RHPs: .288/.338/.561 (13 HRs)
Plus, he’s on fire right now. Barger has a .333 average over his last 16 games with five homers and 37 total bases.
That includes 14 total bases in his last four starts.
Schlittler threw his four-seam fastball 53.3% of the time in his MLB debut. Barger has a .275 average and .500 SLG off fastballs in 2025.
This is a plus-money pick and could definitely be played solo, but it also boosts the SGP from +110 to +350, so I’m happy to add it in.
Scherzer over 4.5 Ks (-286): Scherzer is 2-2 against this wager since returning to the rotation, but I like this matchup for the veteran.
Firstly, he recorded seven Ks against the Yankees on June 30.
That’s not surprising as Scherzer has a very successful history against the Yankees’ offence.
In 155 plate appearances vs. the active lineup, Scherzer has a 40.0% K rate. That includes a combined 47.3% K rate for top sluggers Aaron Judge, Paul Goldschmidt and Giancarlo Stanton.
I’d be more concerned about Scherzer’s age if he hadn’t just carved up the Yankees three weeks ago.
Yankees vs. Blue Jays predictions made at 10:24 a.m. ET on 07/22/2025.
Spencer is a true sports junkie. A graduate of the Sports Journalism program at Centennial College, he first joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2023. He is now a contributing writer. He loves finding the edge to bet on in all sports but has a deep passion for the NBA and UFC. Previous stops include Sportsnet.