Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees AL Wildcard 10/5/21 MLB Picks & Predictions

The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox meet Tuesday in the MLB American League Wild Card Game at Fenway Park. The New York Yankees are coming off a 92-win season and are in the postseason for a fifth straight year. The Boston Red Sox also won 92 games and are in the postseason for the first time since 2018, when they won the World Series.

The New York Yankees head into this game winning nine of their last 12 games. The Yankees have scored six runs in their last three games and four or more runs in five of their last eight games. The Yankees have won 12 of their last 13 games when scoring four or more runs. DJ LeMahieu leads the Yankees with 160 hits and 57 RBI while Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have combined for 297 hits and 195 RBI. Gerrit Cole gets the ball, and he was 16-8 with a 3.23 ERA and 243 strikeouts this season. Cole is 8-4 with a 2.68 ERA and 108 strikeouts in his postseason career.

The Boston Red Sox enter this contest splitting their last 10 games. The Red Sox have scored 16 runs in their last three games and four or more runs in four of their last five games. The Red Sox have won 11 straight games when scoring four or more runs. Rafael Devers leads the Red Sox with 165 hits and 113 RBI while J.D. Martinez and Alex Verdugo have combined for 320 hits and 162 RBI. Nathan Eovaldi gets the ball, and he was 11-9 with a 3.75 ERA and 195 strikeouts this season. Eovaldi is 2-1 with a 1.61 ERA and 16 strikeouts in his postseason career.

The Yankees are 5-1 in their last 6 road games and 9-3 in their last 12 overall. The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 playoff games and 4-1 in their last 5 overall. The under is 6-2-1 in Yankees last 9 road games. The under is 7-1 in Red Sox last 8 overall. The Yankees are 4-1 in the last 5 meetings in Boston and 6-0 in the last 6 meetings.

Cole was given a massive contract for games like this, and we’ve seen him come through time and time again in the postseason, mainly for the Astros. However, Cole did not have a great month of September, allowing 37 hits and 19 earned runs through 33.1 innings, and the Red Sox got three runs off him in six innings a little over a week ago. Eovaldi was much better last month, allowing 32 hits and 14 earned runs through 32 innings, but he did get rocked by the Yankees for seven runs and seven hits in 2.2 innings in that same game Cole pitched. It’s hard for me to lean toward a side, as you can make a case for both teams in a winner take all. I just like both offenses and I don’t think the bats will be quiet in this crucial game.

Give me the over.