MLB Best Bet: Thursday, April 14th

The New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays wrap up their four-game series in the Bronx on Thursday, and the road team is looking for a 3 – 1 advantage against their AL East foes. Ej Garr is back on the prowl looking for the best baseball bet to make on Thursday night and a play at 2.15 makes the board with a road underdog ready to bark…Again!

MLB Best Bet April 14th:

• NY Yankees vs. Blue Jays: Toronto Blue Jays to Win at 2.11

Odds as of 9 am April 14, 2022. Odds may now differ.

NY Yankees vs. Toronto Best Bet

Thursday, April 14th, 23:05 UK time

The Yankees ended up starting the season with 7 games at home because of the schedule change that saw the cancellation of the first 2 series of the campaign, New York won 2 of the 3 meetings with Boston before the Jays came to New York on Monday to begin this 4-game set that concludes tonight in the Boogie Down.

Toronto pitching was stellar to open the series against New York only allowing 2 hits in a convincing 3 – 0 win on Monday night. The Yankees returned the favour in game 2 and shut out the Jays, 4 – 0 as the two split the first two games. Both teams threw their aces on the bump for the Wednesday night affair in the Bronx as Gerrit Cole and Jose Berrios both needed to rebound from disappointing first starts to open the 2022 season last week.

Berrios came into last night’s game with an ERA of 108 after only hurling 1/3 of an inning against Texas to kick off the year. Berrios just signed a 7-year deal to be their featured ace and got tugged out of the game before even recording two outs. Meanwhile, Cole gave up 3 first-inning runs in his season-opening start against Boston and he gave up another early run on Wednesday night because of some dude who just goes by Vladi!

Vladi blasted a ball deep to centre in the 1st inning that was actually in the glove of CF Aaron Hicks as his leap was timed perfectly attempting to keep the ball in the park. Hicks was unable to secure the ball, however, as it bounced over the barrier to give the Jays an early 1 – 0 lead. Vladi came up again in the 3rd inning with a man on and there went the 2nd HR of the night for the beast sporting his Dad’s old #27 jersey.

Not enough? How about a 4 – 4 night at the plate for Vladi Guerrero Jr. on Wednesday with 3 homers. The last one in the 8th inning flying 443 feet gave the Jays a 5 – 3 lead and the ultimate victory. There was some other kind of Yankees history and the irony of a candy bar involved with Wednesday night’s game. If you recall, there was this guy. He wore #44 and hit 3 dingers on 3 pitches in the 1977 World Series for the Yankees.
Reggie Jackson was an icon in New York but Vladi broke out for a trio of dingers on a night they quite literally celebrated the anniversary of the Reggie Bar back in the 70s. They showed highlights of the fans throwing the Reggie Bars back on the field when Reggie hit a ball over the stands during the game, taking us down memory lane… And if you never had a Reggie Bar? Too bad, because I grew up 20 minutes from Yankee Stadium and chowed down handfuls of those babies because they were yum!

As 2.45 underdogs on Wednesday night, the Jays took game 3 of the 4-game set, and here they are as underdogs again on Thursday night at 2.15.

The Jays will send Kevin Gausman to the hill as he too looks to rebound from a pedestrian outing to start his year. Gausman threw 5 innings and carries a 5.40 ERA into his second start after allowing 3 runs to Texas in a 4 – 3 win. The bullpen provided 4 innings of strong relief to bail out Gausman and the same can be said for the Yankees expected starter tonight.

Luis Severino looked like he had control of pitches in his first outing of 2022 and his fastball had some zip with great location. Severino is still working his way back from a lengthy absence from the mound that lasted close to two full years. Severino only allowed 2 runs in his first start but he only spent 3 innings on the slab while featuring an ERA of 6.00. Severino is still on a pitch count and he will likely be allowed to go 65- 75 tosses at most before Boone calls his day. Boone hopes he can keep Severino in the mix but it’s a long season and he is certainly still fragile.

At 2.11, I have the Jays to take game 4 of the series and ultimately take 3 of 4 from the Yankees in the Bronx. The Yanks desperately need a lead-off hitter and if Kyle Higashioka is going to be an everyday catcher he needs to hit something. Higashioka led all players with 7 bombs in spring training but he hasn’t hit a lick in a lineup that is full of potential strike-out victims.

• Selection: Toronto Blue Jays ML
• Best Odds: 2.11 (Marathon)
• Stakes: 4/10

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