Well, well, well. It looks like we might actually have a series on our hands. The Yankees’ bats came alive on Tuesday night against the, umm, lesser arms of the Dodgers’ bullpen, forcing this World Series to a Game 5. You know what that means. Gerrit Cole now gets to take the mound for New York. It’s not over till it’s over, right?
Let’s break down some bets for this evening’s baseball festivities on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
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Los Angeles Dodgers at New York Yankees
Gerrit Cole Over 16.5 Outs Recorded (-135)
For as much as this is about Cole and his strengths as a pitcher, this is just as much about the state of the Yankees’ bullpen. New York wasn’t the team that used a bullpen day in Game 4, but with Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil combining for just 20 outs the last two contests, the Yankees’ high-leverage relievers are taxed. Luke Weaver, Tim Hill and Mark Leiter have all thrown in back-to-back games, while Clay Holmes has thrown in every game of the World Series so far. Thankfully, New York has it’s ace on the mound this evening — a pitcher that Aaron Boone will be fine to ride-or-die with.
Cole threw six innings and allowed just a single earned run in Game 1. It was the second time in three starts that the RHP had recorded at least 18 outs. Let’s also not pretend that Cole’s volume will be solely predicated on a numbers game in the bullpen. The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner happens to be quite good. After an injury-marred beginning to 2024, Cole was fantastic in his final 10 outings of the regular season, pitching to a 2.25 ERA with a 2.62 FIP and a 26.0% strikeout rate. So long as he doesn’t get into too much trouble early, I envision the Yankees attempting to get every ounce out of their best pitcher on Wednesday.
Giancarlo Stanton 2+ Total Bases (+130)
Stanton was one of the few Yankees that didn’t do much offensively in Game 4, yet the man has been an extra-base hit machine throughout the playoffs. In 57 postseason plate appearances, Stanton owns a .412 ISO and a .686 slugging percentage. Not too shabby for a guy who can’t run faster than a kindergartener. You’ll also remember that it was Stanton that hit the two-run missile off Jack Flaherty in Game of this series. That’s been a pretty consistent issue for the RHP.
During the regular season, Flaherty surrendered a whopping 1.77 home runs per nine to opposing right-handed hitters. In his four starts in October, the 29-year-old is allowing 1.74 opponent long balls per nine to everyone, regardless of handedness. Yankee Stadium has been the American League’s top home run environment dating back to the beginning of 2022, per MLB Park Factors. You can see where this is all going. Heck, it might even be worth taking a shot on Stanton to leave the yard at +275 on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
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All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests.
