Heading into tonight’s marquee matchup, at home against the Los Angeles Angels, the New York Yankees have the best record in baseball at 34-15. Their run differential (+79) is best in the American League, with only the L.A. Dodgers (+116) boasting a better mark in the Major Leagues.
The Yankees and Angels entered last night’s contest tied for the American League lead in home runs with 67, but the Yankees out-homered L.A. 2-1 in the Tuesday night contest in the Bronx, to then assume sole lead of that statistical category all by their lonesome.
According to the odds at Betway, the host Yanks are favored over the Angels tonight to the tune of 1.54 while the underdog visitors are priced at 2.55. 72% of the Moneyline bets and 52% of the moneyline handle is going all in on the Bronx Bombers.
The Yankees pitching staff has a decided edge on the hill versus the Angels (who they’ll face twice more on this homestand), with a stellar team ERA of 2.95 (versus the Angels, 3.68 ERA), 444 strikeouts (while the Angels have 389 K) and an AL-best opponents’ batting average of just .217 (Angels, .221).
The win marked just the 11th time in franchise history that the Yankees have won 34 of their first 49 in a given season and just the second time since 1959), when the 1998 Yankees won 37 of their first 49 games.
The Bronx Bombers have also won 15 of their last 22 games, 27 of their last 36 and 29 of their last 39. Got all that?
The W improved the Bronx Bombers to 13-3 in series openers, thus far on the young season.
Nestor Cortes is tonight’s starter, and he takes the ball with an ERA of 1.70, second to only Martin Perez of the Texas Rangers in that department.
There are Pinstripes everywhere on the MLB individual leaders in statistical categories charts, with Gerrit Cole 5th in MLB with 77 Ks and of course, Aaron Judge leading the Majors in home runs with 18.
The New York Yankees are arguably the most prolific club in all of professional sports. That’s not exactly breaking news, yes, I know.
Like Manchester United in soccer, the L.A. Lakers (or one could argue the Boston Celtics) in basketball (Kentucky for the college ranks), the New England Patriots in football (Notre Dame for the college game), they are the crem de la crem.
So when they’re on top it just feels like the natural order of things is more restored a little bit. Or at least it does now, given how utterly insane and out of the control the world feels, relating to matters way bigger than sport, in this current moment.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast, part of Edge of the Crowd Network. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.