All good things are meant to come to an end, and it feels likely that one of the more quietly impressive streaks in baseball will finally snap to a halt this season. The Los Angeles Angels are the only MLB franchise never to lose 100 games in a season, but they’re at serious risk of hitting that ignominious mark in 2026.
Los Angeles did snap a seven-game losing streak last night by beating the New York Yankees in the opener of a three-game set, so the Yankees will be looking for redemption.
First pitch in the middle game of the series is scheduled for 9:38 p.m. ET. Gerrit Cole is slated to start for New York, and the Angels will counter with Grayson Rodriguez.
Let’s break down this cross-country clash with some odds and lines at DraftKings Sportsbook.
New York Yankees at Los Angeles Angels Best Bets
- Under 7.5 (-124): As awful as Rodriguez has been for most of the season, especially at home, his ERA is only a notch above 3 across his last six starts, and Cole has pitched like a true ace since the start of July. Both of these offenses have struggled mightily as of late.
- Luis García (NYY) 2+ Hits + Runs + RBI’s (-118): García has been raking as of late, posting an OPS north of 1.100 over his last 11 games as he gets acclimated to his new team. He’s recorded a .587 xSLG against right-handed four-seam fastballs this season.
New York Yankees at Los Angeles Angels prediction, preview
The Tampa Bay Rays haven’t given the Yankees any opportunity to chase them down at the top of the AL, so while New York has played well enough since the All-Star break to comfortably hold on to the fourth seed in the league, it doesn’t have much to play for until the playoffs start. More than anything, the Yankees will simply have to focus on getting their offense on track, as since the Midsummer Classic, they’ve posted baseball’s fourth-lowest OPS. In that span, Ben Rice — an MVP candidate in the first half of the season — has sputtered to the tune of a .194/.294/355 slash line, and George Lombard Jr.’s rise to and fall from grace has come quickly. While it awaits the impending return of Aaron Judge, New York has been kept afloat by its pitching, as its rotation posted a sub-3 ERA in August, with Cam Schlittler vying with Dylan Cease for the AL Cy Young Award and Cole and Max Fried producing as well. Carlos Rodón is also back in the rotation after missing nearly two months, and setup men Brent Headrick and Paul Blackburn both have sub-2 ERA’s, linking the starters to closer David Bednar effectively.
Los Angeles, meanwhile, didn’t have much room to dip before brushing up against the 100-loss mark, but the Angels have done just that, going just 15-26 since the All-Star break, including just 6-17 in July. Across that span, Los Angeles has had by far the league’s worst offense, with 28 OPS points separating them and the 29th-place Pittsburgh Pirates. Future Hall of Famer Mike Trout, who had quietly produced arguably his best and healthiest season of the 2020’s up through the All-Star break, has put up just a .698 OPS across that span, and the Angels also traded Jo Adell, who’s rediscovered his offensive form with the Cleveland Guardians. At least Los Angeles has figured it out on the mound; its rotation has posted just a 3.16 since the All-Star break and its bullpen a 3.55 mark. Although José Soriano now pitches for the Toronto Blue Jays, Reid Detmers and Walbert Ureña have been an impressive top two, and Luke Murphy and Blake Weiman have been the linchpins of a rebuilt bullpen. The Angels’ offense has been so bad that even the elite pitching performance hasn’t resulted in wins, but if nothing else, Los Angeles’ new ownership group (led by Los Angeles Rams, Denver Nuggets, and Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke) can at least see some reasons for optimism.
Cole is coming off of a poor outing for his standards, as he gave up three runs in six innings of work, but that’s still a quality start. He’s been a true ace since the start of July, pitching to a 2.66 ERA across 10 starts, although the Yankees have gone just 5-5 in those starts. This season, he ranks in the 81st percentile in expected ERA and the 79th percentile in pitching run value, and he combines a 77th-percentile strikeout rate with a 95th-percentile walk rate, furthering issues for an Angels team that has drawn the fourth-fewest free passes while striking out the third-most times. However, he’s been bad at incentivizing either chases or whiffs, which could mitigate some of Los Angeles’ biggest weaknesses. Plus, whenever opponents have hit him, they’ve hit him hard, as he ranks in the bottom quintile in both hard-hit percentage and average exit velocity, although that might not be much of a problem against the soft-hitting Angels. That might be especially true at Angel Stadium, since Cole has been slightly better on the road and Los Angeles has had baseball’s worst home offense by a massive margin.
Rodriguez has been part of the Angels’ hot pitching as of late — he has allowed just one earned run across his last two starts (12.2 innings pitched) and has pitched to a 3.03 mark in his last six starts — but he still sports just a 6.03 ERA in 15 outings for the season as a whole. Still, perhaps he was owed some luck; for the season, his 4.63 FIP is far better than his ERA, and while a 5.46 xERA certainly isn’t good, it’s slightly better than his actual mark. All in all, New York should be salivating; Rodriguez ranks in the 34th percentile in both whiff and strikeout rate, so the Yankees should find more contact than usual, and the Angels have had a bottom-10 fielding unit in baseball. Additionally, Rodriguez has been hit hard, allowing a sixth-percentile hard-hit rate, a seventh-percentile average exit velocity, and a 22nd-percentile barrel rate, and despite posting the sixth-lowest slugging percentage since the Midsummer Classic, the Bronx Bombers have still lived up to their nickname, ranking among the league’s top two in all three power categories. Plus, the location splits are definitely not in Rodriguez’s favor; although New York has put up an OPS 68 points lower on the road, Rodriguez has pitched to a 7.78 ERA across nine home starts.
New York Yankees at Los Angeles Angels pick, best bet
Best Bet: Under 7.5 (-124)
This is putting a lot of faith in Rodriguez not to completely stink it up at home, but given how poor each of these offenses has been over the last six weeks, it wouldn’t be a surprise if neither team is able to properly take advantage of the opposing pitcher’s weaknesses.
Strong Lean: Luis García (NYY) 2+ Hits + Runs + RBI’s (-118)
García had a rough first few games with the Yankees, but across his last 11 games, he’s rebounded with a 1.189 OPS. In that span, he’s had at least two H/R/RBI’s six times despite only having one plate appearance in two of the games.
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