New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays Pick

New York Yankees (38-22) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (23-38), 6/6/19
Time: 7:07 pm ET Thursday, June 6
Where: Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON
Listed Pitchers: JA Happ (5-3, 4.83 ERA, 1.22 WHIP) vs. Edwin Jackson (0-3, 13.22, 2.20)
TV: ESPN, YES, SportsnetOne, TVAS

Moneyline: Yankees -195/Blue Jays +175 (Mybookie)
Over/Under: 10

The AL East-leading Yankees, winners of nine series in a row, will try to avoid getting swept when they battle the Blue Jays in the finale of a three-game series in Toronto Thursday night. How are we betting this game with our free MLB pick?

MLB Betting Odds

Thursday’s MLB betting odds opened New York and Happ at around -185 over Toronto and Jackson, with an over/under of 10 runs. Early betting action then bumped that line about a dime, to around -195.

The Yanks could also be found getting around +100 giving the run and a half on the MLB run line.

Yankees vs. Blue Jays Set-Up

Toronto grabbed the opener of this series Tuesday night 4-3, cashing in as a +180 home dog on the MLB betting line. The Blue Jays then came from behind to take Wednesday’s game 11-7, hitting the pay window at a price of +175.

Toronto trailed Wednesday night 7-4 through six and a half innings, then scored twice in the seventh and five times in the eighth to steal the victory.

With Wednesday’s loss New York now owns a three-game losing streak.

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The Blue Jays, meanwhile, have won two straight, after losing six in a row.

At 38-22 overall the Yankees lead the AL East by a game and a half over second-place Tampa Bay, and by 15.5 games over 23-38 Toronto.

This series is the first meeting between these teams this season. Last year New York took the season series from the Blue Jays 13 games to six.

Thursday’s Starting Arms

Veteran righty Jackson is 0/4 on quality starts since joining the Jays rotation three weeks ago, and has only gotten progressively worse. In his first start for his latest team Jackson held San Francisco to two earned runs through five innings, although Toronto lost that game 4-3. But since then he’s fashioned three lousy outings in a row, after giving up 10 runs in less than three innings last Friday against Colorado.

Over his last three starts Jackson has given up 22 ER through 11 2/3 innings.

The Blue Jays are 0-4 with Jackson this season.

This will be Jackson’s first start against the Yankees since 2012, when he was with Washington.

Lefty Happ, by our strict standards, is just 3/12 on quality starts this season, and one for his last six. Last Friday he held Boston to one run and three hits through five innings of a 4-1 New York victory. But over his three starts previous to that he allowed 12 earned runs and five home runs through 15 innings.

The Yankees are 9-3 with Happ this season, 5-0 over his last five starts, but some of that is due to some good run support.

In his one start against Toronto last year Happ allowed two runs and seven hits through 5 1/3 innings of a 10-2 Yanks win.

Thursday’s Batting Splits

New York is batting .262/.341/.466 against right-handed pitching this season. This lineup continues to operate without several big sticks but has still scored at least five runs seven times in its last 10 games.

Toronto is batting .232/.291/.372 against left-handed pitching this season. This lineup has also been held to three runs or less five times in its last eight games.

The Bullpens

• The Yankees bullpen owns a 3.60 ERA this season and a 1.24 WHIP.

• The Blue Jays pen owns a 4.17 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP.

Totals Report

• Overs are 31-26 in Yankees games this season.

• Unders are 32-27 in Blue Jays games this season.

• Unders are 16-13 in games played at Rogers Centre this season.

• Overs are 3-1 with Jackson this season, largely thanks to his “efforts.”

Free MLB Pick

New York own advantages in the pitching match-up, with the sticks and in the bullpen comparison. So we like the Yankees here. But we don’t like that price. So we’ll take a chance and play New York on the MLB betting run line.