3 bets for Guardians-Yankees Game 5
We have just one game on Monday's slate and it figures to be a great one. The Cleveland Guardians are in New York to take on the Yankees, with the winner advancing to the ALCS and the loser packing it in for the season.
Let's take a look at a few of the many theScore Bet specials posted for the deciding contest.
Jameson Taillon to record over 3.5 Ks & Yankees to win (+260)
Taillon has been solid recently. He owns a 3.05 FIP over his last month of work and has struck out nearly 25% of the batters he's faced.
Although the Guardians are disciplined and don't tend to strike out often, Taillon is likely to go over the number in this spot. He registered at least four strikeouts in 10 of his last 13 starts.
He also hit the over on that total in his lone appearance against the Guardians this season. In that game, Taillon tossed five quality innings and struck out five while allowing just one run.
Even with the quick hook on starting pitchers that we tend to see in elimination games, Taillon should be able to go over the number against a Cleveland side that lacks power and the ability to put up runs in chunks.
Aaron Civale to record over 3.5 Ks & Guardians to win (+280)
Civale has pitched as well as Taillon of late, if not better. He posted a 3.27 ERA over the last month while striking out batters at a near-28% clip.
His strikeout ability is nothing new; Civale has sat down batters pretty consistently for a while. In fact, Civale recorded four strikeouts or more in nine of his last 11 starts, dating back to the beginning of July.
The Yankees are very good at hitting right-handers and they've got power, but they do strike out a fair bit.
From Sept. 1 on, they struck out more than 24% of the time against righties. That ranked them a hair outside the top 10 in terms of the highest K rate.
With each pitcher striking out batters at a good clip, the winning team seems likely to feature a starter who racked up four Ks.
Amed Rosario & Steven Kwan to each record a hit (+160)
The Guardians may not feature much power, but they can string together hits. Rosario and Kwan - along with Jose Ramirez - are at the forefront of that ability, especially of late.
Since Sept. 4, the Guardians have played 35 games, including the postseason. Rosario has recorded at least a hit in 28 of those games. That's an 80% success rate.
Kwan, meanwhile, only failed to register a hit 10 times in that span. He was also a .300 hitter in the regular season, so, generally speaking, he's likely to get a hit over four or five at-bats.
In this ALDS, Rosario and Kwan have registered hits in the same game three times.
With two hot contact hitters going up against a middle-of-the-rotation arm, +160 seems a fair price.
Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.