New York Yankees vs. Texas Rangers Prediction: How Will a Long Layoff Impact This Doubleheader?
New York Yankees vs. Texas Rangers Prediction: How Will a Long Layoff Impact This Doubleheader?
Yankees vs. Rangers Start Time, Where to Watch, and Odds
- Date: May 8, 2022
- Game Time: 1:35 pm ET
- Where to Watch: MLB.TV
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Mother Nature will finally let the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees play today, as relentless rain over the last two days postponed the series' first two games. Texas and New York were supposed to have met five times by now, as the teams were supposed to open the season with a three-game set in Texas. However, the lockout wiped out the first six games of the season for all teams, leaving the Rangers and Yankees to scuffle to find enough days to make up for all they had missed.
Today’s two games will be played as a single-admission doubleheader, and a planned off-day tomorrow is now when the teams will conclude this three-game series.
This article focuses on today’s first game that features a pitching matchup between Jon Gray (0-1, 7.50) and Gerrit Cole (2-0, 3.00). Will the extra two days off have more of an impact on the pitchers or the lineups? And how will the fact that the teams will play twice today affect the opener? Read on for our best play in today’s first game of the doubleheader between the Rangers and Yankees.
Yankees vs. Rangers Total Runs Movement
New York Yankees vs. Texas Rangers Prediction
There are two schools of thought on how to approach this afternoon’s Rangers-Yankees game. The first is that a more extended layoff than usual will affect the starting pitchers more and that their stuff will not be as crisp. Or, the advantage may go to the pitchers, who may appreciate the extra time off after a compromised spring training, and that the hitters’ timing and rhythm will be more disrupted. We are leaning towards the former in this game.
With temperatures not reaching higher than the mid-50s in the Bronx today, each starting pitcher may find difficulty gripping the ball in colder than normal temperatures for early May. And Gerrit Cole has had his struggles early in games, as his 4.33 career first-inning ERA is higher than his ERA in any other inning. In addition, Cole’s career stats with six or more days of rest instead of pitching on four or five days’ rest are worse. On six days’ rest, Cole’s ERA is 3.69 compared to 2.84 and 3.50 on four and five days’ rest. In addition, his strikeout rate drops on six days’ rest, as his 9.8 K/9 rate is worse than his career average.
One would have assumed that Jon Gray leaving Coors Field, where he pitched for the first seven years of his career, would drastically improve his numbers. However, Gray has averaged just four innings per start this season, and his 4.66 FIP is on pace to be the second-worst of his career. To this point, Gray’s 22.9% flyball percentage is the second-highest of his career, and that could spell doom against a Yankees lineup that relies so much on the home run for offense.
With each team knowing that they have plenty of baseball to play after two rainouts, they will likely demand more of their starting pitchers, even if they struggle. While that would also seem to play into the full-game over, we are instead backing the first five innings total, especially with each starter’s poor trends entering today’s game.
New York Yankees vs. Texas Rangers Pick
- F5 Innings OVER 4 Runs (+115) (Bet $100 to Win $115)