New York Yankees vs Toronto Blue Jays Prediction & Betting Tips - MLB

Prediction published on 23/04/2023, 01:43  by Joseph King | Modified on 23/04/2023 at 02:43 in MLB Predictions

The third-place Yankees take on the fourth-place Blue Jays in this AL East matchup in the still young 2023 Major League Baseball season. New York has gotten off to a solid start, winning 13 of their first 21 games. However, the red-hot start of the Tampa Bay Rays means that the Yanks sit five games back for the division lead ahead of this matchup with Toronto. For the Blue Jays, they’ll be looking to build some consistency and pull level with New York in this game as they trail their opponents today by just one game having won 12 of 21 games so far.

The Yankees dropped the first of this three game series by a scoreline of 6-1 on Friday. They were able to respond in game two with a 3-2 win courtesy of a DJ LeMahieu walk off single in the bottom of the ninth in front of the home fans at Yankee Stadium. New York has now won five of the last seven games as the World Series hopefuls will now look to close out this series with a win. Taking the mound for the Yankees is Clarke Schmidt who has not experienced a good start to his 2023 campaign. The 27-year-old righty has made four starts on the season so far and has a massive 8.79 ERA. Schmidt only lasted three and two-thirds innings in his most recent outing against the Angels but allowed six hits, four earned runs and a home run during that time. 

The Blue Jays will be desperate for win here and a subsequent win in the first series against their division rivals. Toronto have hit something of a speed bump in the last week of games with four losses in their last six contests. However, they will likely fancy their chances of getting the better of New York here with a significant advantage on the mound. Kevin Gausman takes the bump for the visiting Jays and will be looking to bounce back after a tough start in his last appearance. Gausman started the season excellently, pitching 12 innings of shutout baseball across two starts. His last start, however, saw the 30-year-old lefty give up seven earned runs and two homers in four and two-thirds innings pitched. Gausman has a 3.35 ERA on the season and the Blue Jays have won two of the four games that he has started.