New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays Prop Picks: Can Kevin Gausman, Michael King Rack Up the Strikeouts?

New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays Prop Picks: Can Kevin Gausman, Michael King Rack Up the Strikeouts?

The New York Yankees are in the final stretch of a tumultuous season that has pitted them seven games out of a playoff spot with just 11 to go. Mathematically, the Yankees are not eliminated from the postseason yet. Still, they would have to beat out both the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers to get the final wild-card spot, and their playoff chances are sitting at .1% right now. The Toronto Blue Jays, on the other hand, are holding on to the second wild card spot behind the Rays, and they are still very motivated in these final games to keep their spot in second for wild card seeding.

Tonight, we have Kevin Gausman on the mound for the Jays and Michael King on the mound for the Yankees. The Jays took game one of this series by a score of 7-1 and look like they are in control to do so again in game two with their ace on the mound. I have two prop picks I love in this game, with one on each team.

Blue Jays vs. Yankees Date, Time and Where to Watch

• Date: September 20, 2023
• Game Time: 7:05 pm ET
• Where to Watch: MLB.TV, YESN

Toronto Blue Jays vs. New York Yankees Player Prop Picks

Kevin Gausman Over 7.5 Strikeouts -125 is currently the best odds. Click here to see which sportsbook has the best odds.

The best line for this one at the time of writing this is over at DraftKings. As I mentioned in the opener, Kevin Gausman has been the respective ace for the Jays this season, and he has been the most consistent. Kevin Gausman currently leads the entire American League with 222 strikeouts, and that's even with having fewer innings pitched than second-place Pablo Lopez or third-place Gerrit Cole. Gausman has been incredibly consistent this season, not having one month over a 4.35 ERA.

Gausman has also been dominant against the Yankees lately. This season, Gausman has two starts against the Yankees, and he gave up zero and two runs in those two starts, combining for 14 innings pitched and 21 strikeouts overall. In his last six outings against the Yankees, he has 9,9,7,7,11, and 10 strikeouts, in that order. He has not given up more than two runs in five-straight starts against the Yankees, and Gausman is on pace to finish with the most strikeouts of his career with his sixth strikeout tonight. That will give him the motivation to hit at least that many and get eight tonight. The Yankees are 4th in strikeout rate against righties in the last 30 days at 26.8%.

Michael King Under 5.5 Strikeouts -130 is currently the best odds. Click here to see which sportsbook has the best odds.

One over and one under. The best line on this one is also over at DraftKings. Michael King has been a bullpen pitcher for most of his career with the Yankees. This will be his 17th start in four years with the organization. This will be his fifth start in a row, and he has yet to pitch more than five innings in any of them. He tops out around 4-5 innings, meaning he would need more than a strikeout per inning to pass this line.

Gausman has not had success striking out Jay's hitters. In 83 plate appearances against the Blue Jays, King has 15 strikeouts, averaging an 18% strikeout rate. That means he is striking out about one in every five hitters against the Jays, and it's unlikely he will get past even 25 plate appearances tonight. He has not had more than 20 batters faced once this season, meaning he would need to have a 30% strikeout rate to hit six strikeouts even at his max batters faced. The Jays have the sixth-lowest strikeout rate against righties in the last 30 days at 19.7% and have an 18% strikeout rate against King. I doubt he gets six tonight.

MLB Odds

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