New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays: Odds, Prediction
The AL East-contending New York Yankees, still without injured superstar Aaron Judge, make their final visit of the season to Rogers Centre for a three-game set starting Friday night. The Blue Jays are +130 underdogs on the MLB odds with a total of 8.0 runs in a matchup of former AL Cy Young winners.
MLB Betting Odds and Trends
Without question, the Yankees now have enough hitting and starting pitching after the trade deadline to win the franchise’s first World Series since 2009 but only if superstar and three-time AL MVP Aaron Judge makes it back this season from a fractured rib that was a bit more complicated than just that. Judge has started light activities but would need essentially a full spring training to get fully cleared to return, so clearly if No. 99 does make it back it will only be for the stretch run.
New York’s offence has been one of MLB’s worst since Judge’s last game on May 31, but the team added two good bats ahead of the recent deadline in outfielder Heliot Ramos from the Giants and infielder Luis Garcia from the Nationals. But Tampa Bay also got better at the deadline and is pulling away in the AL East with a 6.5-game lead over the second-place Yankees. New York holds the AL’s top Wild Card spot so there is almost no chance the team misses the postseason entirely.
The Yankees are 4-3 vs. the Blue Jays this season and 2-1 at Rogers Centre, and the clubs have one more three-game set next weekend in the Bronx. Former NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt has hit Blue Jays pitching hard this year at .308 with two homers, a double and six RBIs.
New York Yankees
New York plays its first road game since Aug. 2 and the offence sans the injured Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton continued to struggle Thursday in a 1-0 home loss to Seattle with a chance to sweep. The team has gotten a bit of a boost from touted shortstop prospect George Lombard Jr., who was recently called up and is batting .276 with a couple of homers in eight games. The Yankees have 31 comeback wins this season with each of their past four coming that way.
Right-hander and 2023 AL Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole takes the mound tonight. Cole (6-5, 3.35 ERA), who got a late start to the year off injury, went a season-high-tying seven innings last time out in beating Atlanta for a third straight victory. He hasn’t faced the Blue Jays since 2024 after missing the 2025 campaign. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has had carer success off Cole, batting .343 with four doubles and two homers in 35 at-bats. New York starting pitchers have allowed two runs or fewer in 12 of the past 15 games.
Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays had a chance to sweep a four-game home series against what had been a red-hot Boston Red Sox team on Thursday, but Toronto was routed 7-0. Before the game, the club put reliever Brendon Little on the paternity list and called up pitcher Lazaro Estrada from Triple-A Buffalo. He got into Thursday’s game and allowed two runs in an inning.
Right-hander Shane Bieber, the 2020 AL Cy Young winner with Cleveland, takes the mound Friday. Bieber (3-2, 5.48 ERA) has been quite hit-or-miss this year and it was miss last time out, shelled for five runs over 5.2 innings in a no-decision in Philadelphia. But Bieber has been significantly better at home, going 2-0 with a 2.86 ERA in four starts. He hasn’t faced New York this year. No active Yankees have homered off Bieber.