Yankees and Red Sox Battle This Weekend; Something’s Got to Give

Does it get much better than this in Major League Baseball? The red-hot New York Yankees take on the equally red-hot Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium with less than a month until the postseason begins. This is going to be a whale of a series. The Red Sox are coming off a 20-4 pasting of the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night and the Yanks have been cruising lately, overtaking the Baltimore Orioles for third place in the A. L. East and closing to within 2.5 games of the struggling Tampa Bay Rays for the second spot, which is also the second A. L. Wild Card spot at the moment. The Rays take on the Los Angeles Angels tonight with a chance to take three of four in that series. Should they win, they will gain a game on the Sox-Yankees loser. But if they lose, they loses another game to the Sox-Yankees winner. So that is also a huge game. The Rays move on to play the Seattle Mariners over the weekend.

Now let’s look at the A.L. West. The Texas Rangers and Oakland A’s just finished their series and they are now dead even at 80-59. Both of the these teams would make the playoffs if they started right now. One of them would be hosting the Rays in the one-game Wild Card playoff, although we are not sure which one. How is that for some September drama? Last night the A’s walloped the Rangers 11-4 to move back into a tie for the lead. This weekend, the A’s will host the Houston Astros while the Rangers host the Minnesota Twins.

The Tigers are sitting pretty in the A.L. Central despite taking it on the chin last night. They have a 6.5 game lead over the Cleveland Indians and 8.5 over the Kansas City Royals. The Indians trail the Yankees by one game and the Rays by 3.5 games for the last wild card spot. Cleveland will hos the New York Mets this weekend while the Royals host the Mariners.

Betonline has odds on Thursday’s games:

Tampa Bay Rays at L. A. Angles– David Price is pitching for Tampa Bay against Jerome Williams for the Angels. The Rays are -1.5 -115 and the Angles are +1.5 -105 ATS. Moneyline is Rays  -179 and Angels +169. O/U is 7.5 with over -115 and under -105. We like the Rays -179 and the under -105.

Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees– Jake Peavy goes for the Sox against Ivan Nova for the Yanks. The Sox are +1.5 -210 and the Yankees are -1.5 +180 ATS. Moneyline is Boston -104 and the Yankees -106. O/U is 8.5 with over -105 and under -115. We like the Yanks at home -106 and the under -115.

Houston Astros at Oakland A’s- Brad Peacock of Houston goes against Sonny Gray and the A’s in this one. The Astros are +1.5 +110 and the A’s are -1.5 -130 ATS. Moneyline is Astros +238 and rhe A’s -258. O/U is 7.5 with over -120 and under +100. We are going to go with the Astros in an upset +238 and the under +100.