Yankees Can Pounce On Gausman Once Again

Blue Jays vs. Yankees, 7:05 ET

There have been three or four games now that I've put multiple plays on this season, and we finally won a big one yesterday as Seth Lugo and the Royals came through for me. Most seasons, I've had slumps, but the multi-unit plays always kept me afloat even during tough times. Luckily yesterday we were able to grab the Royals winning on the run line for both the first five innings and the full game. In addition the Tigers stayed under their 3.5 team total. All three cashed and gave us some money. Let's see if we can find another way to grab some cash as the Blue Jays take on the Yankees.

The Blue Jays didn't quite sell off all of their pieces, but they certainly did their best to unload as much as they could. The team struggled for most of the season and there were talks of them being sellers for essentially the entire season. While they didn't trade Vlad Guerrero Jr. or Bo Bichette, they did find other players to part with. They traded Yusei Kikuchi who is making his first start for the Astros today. They traded away Justin Turner and Cavan Biggio in separate trades as well. Overall, the team isn't that bad, or even that far off of a successful campaign. They currently sit at 50-59 for the season, and are just 6-7 since the All-Star Break. They put Kevin Gausman on the hill tonight to try and even up their record. Gausman is 9-8 for the season with a 4.44 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. Gausman is having the best month of his season. I personally thought that the Blue Jays were going to try and get rid of him. He still has front-of-the-rotation value, even in this down year. He is coming off of one of his better starts of the season, going nine innings against the Rangers, and allowing just three earned runs on four hits. He has faced the Yankees three times this year. In the first game, he was rocked in New York, allowing five earned runs on two homers and four hits over 1.1 innings. The other two outings were home starts, in the first home start, he allowed one earned run over five innings, and in the second he allowed seven earned over 4.1 innings. 

TORONTO, ON - MAY 16:  Kevin Gausman #34 of the Toronto Blue Jays delivers a pitch in the first inning against the New York Yankees at Rogers Centre on May 16, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)

The Yankees looked forward to the All-Star Break because they were stumbling and it was looking like the world was about to come crashing down on an otherwise special season. They have rebounded and are now playing some of their best baseball of the season. The Yankees are currently 20 games over .500, but just four game better on their home field, so they certainly have room for improvement here. After dropping five of seven games after the teams resumed action, they have since won five straight games. Going against Gausman is never an easy task, so it won't be easy, but they look to make it six straight wins tonight. In order to get them off on the right foot, they turn to Marcus Stroman. The righty is having they type of season you should expect from him with a 7-5 record, 3.64 ERA, and a 1.35 WHIP. I am not sure if he is starting to feel some fatigue or what, but the team hasn't allowed him to pitch very deep into games lately. He has completed six innings just once since the start of June. Stroman has faced the Blue Jays three times as well. His first time facing the team was at home and he went six scoreless innings. The next two starts came in Toronto and he allowed a total of five innings over 9.2 innings. 

The Yankees have been playing very good baseball over the past five games and I expect it to continue here. I think they should win this game, but it is a bit hard to back with the inconsistency of time that Stroman will spend on the mound. I do lean toward the over for the full game, but the specific play I like in this is to take the Yankees team total over 2.5 through five innings. To me, that just requires them to get five runs off of Gausman, something they've shown they are quite capable of. Back their team total.