Gerrit Cole gets the ball in another must-win World Series game for the New York Yankees tonight.
The pregame narrative: I expect Cole to deal against the Los Angeles Dodgers, like he did in Game 1. I’m also backing Aaron Judge and have a play on L.A. starter Jack Flaherty.
Check out the best Dodgers vs. Yankees picks for Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Dodgers vs. Yankees picks
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Best bet: Cole over 16.5 outs (-134)
These teams are off tomorrow as Game 6 would be in Los Angeles on Friday, so Aaron Boone could unleash his bullpen again.
But he used four key relievers in consecutive games, including closer Luke Weaver. If Cole is throwing well, I have difficulty seeing Boone taking out his horse.
Cole might not be pre-2024-level Cole, but he’s still the best starting pitcher in this series as far as I’m concerned.
The 2023 Cy Young winner was sharp over six innings in Game 1. While the lack of strikeouts was there again, Cole had superb control against a lineup with exceptional plate discipline.
Cole struck out four (the fourth time this postseason he landed on that number) and walked none. He allowed one run and four hits over 88 pitches.
While New York’s ace isn’t getting a lot of swing and miss, his nine whiffs were his most this postseason.
Key stat: Cole has topped this line in two of his last three outings (12 of his last 17) and has a 2.82 ERA this postseason.
Quick picks
Judge over 1.5 total bases (-108): Judge’s struggles have been well-documented this postseason, though that’s over a small sample size.
The soon-to-be AL MVP is in a slump but last night’s game offered some encouraging signs. Perhaps the biggest one: Judge didn’t strike out for the first time in six games.
Over that stretch, Judge had been retired on strikes in 50% of his plate appearances. His K rate has spiked nearly 10% this postseason and he has a 76 wRC+.
Judge has not topped this line in six consecutive contests.
But that’s over 13 games. In 158 regular season games, Judge had an MLB-leading 218 wRC+. You don’t do that by accident.
He also looked great in an eight-pitch first-inning walk and ripped a 107.8 mph single in a pivotal eighth for New York. It was the fourth-hardest-hit ball of the night.
Judge has a lot of swing-and-miss in his game, but he’s not an all-or-nothing power hitter, either. The centre fielder was third in the majors with a .322 batting average.
He topped 1.5 total bases at the fourth-highest rate in MLB, according to Team Rankings.
Picks made at 2:38 p.m. ET 10/30/2024.
Chris joined NorthStar Gaming from Covers.com where he was a publishing editor and wrote betting content. Before that, he was the sports editor at VICE Canada, worked for theScore and covered the Blue Jays for MLB.com. In addition to filling out the lineup card each day for the editorial team, Chris writes frequently himself, primarily on the NBA and MLB.