10:05m ET / 7:05pm PT
#973-974
New York Yankees w/ Severino @ Oakland Athletics w/ Fiers
2** Play on: UNDER the TOTAL
Jumping out at us on this Wednesday’s DIAMOND action is the ‘UNDER’ in Game Three of this YANKEES / ATHLETICS series. We already have the BEST ‘Under’ Umpire of the entire 2018 season that will be behind this dish. We also have a decent enough starting pitcher matchup to justify a normal 3*** Play. At least in terms of current form. And not also doesn’t hurt us that the Athletics have gone 4-16-1 O/U after scoring 2 or less runs in their previous game (lost 5-1 to New York last night). AND… the fact that the offensive-challenged YANKEES have gone 5-16-1 O/U in GAME THREE of a series… 8-19 O/U after allowing 2 < runs in their previous game… 16-34-2 O/U in their last 52 games versus WINNING (> .500) opponents… and 11-24-2 O/U in their last 37 ROAD games versus right-handed pitchers.
Let’s look at the Man in Blue. Working the dish in the finale of this series will be DAN BELLINO. When you scan the list off best UNDER Umpires, Bellino stands at NUMBER ONE (#1) in all of Baseball with a year-to-date record of 4-17-3 O/U. That’s 81% of all his games that have gone UNDER. In American League games, Bellino has gone 1-6-3 O/U on the year 86% Unders). And since we are on the subject of the AL, let’s also point this put: BELLINO have gone 1-5 O/U in all New York Yankees’ games the last two years… and 1-8-2 in the last four years. ALSO, Bellino has gone 2-6-2 O/U in his last eight Oakland Athletics’ games.
Righty Luis Severino gets the call for the visitors. We have been on multiple Severino OVERS during his most recent 'blow up’ period (July and August). But he’s making a late-season run of pretty sharp outings. Heading into tonight's game, its the first time since June that Severino is off 3 straight QUALITY STARTS in a row… in which he has allowed 3 or less earned runs. And despite his problems in the last two months, let’s not forget that he still has a sharp 3.32 ERA for the entire season. His lone start vs the A’s this year resulted in six innings pitched, with only ONE earned run allowed. Severino has gone 0-5-1 O/U in his last six starts vs AL WEST Division opponents, and 3-9 O/U in his last 12 starts versus winning opponents. On the flip side. right-handed Mike Fiers will be toeing the rubber for the hosts. He’s been pretty sharp in his five starts for the Athletics since being acquired in a trade with the Detroit Tigers. The 33-year old Floridian has not lost since July 13th vs the Houston Astros. He has officially gone 7-1 in those starts, with an ERA just under 3.00 (2.78 to be exact).