A huge interleague series begins on Tuesday’s sports betting card when the Philadelphia Phillies travel to New York for a short set with the Yankees.
Tuesday, July 20, 2021 – 7:05 PM EDT at Yankee Stadium
With the trade deadline looming, these next 10 days or so are critical for teams fighting to stay in the playoff hunt. That’s certainly true for Philadelphia and New York as they chase division leaders. The Phillies began the week 2-games back of the New York Mets in the NL East, while the Yankees were seven behind the Boston Red Sox in the AL East.
Lifting the lid on the series is a matchup between a couple of righthanders who have struggled since getting off to good starts to the campaign, Aaron Nola (6-5, 4.53) for the Phillies and Domingo German (4-5, 4.72) in the pinstripes. Most of the top online betting sites have Philadelphia around -120 on the moneyline along with a 9-run total.
Now is a good time for the Phillies – or any other team in the NL East – to gain on the Mets. New York just saw ace Jacob deGrom go down with an arm injury, leaving the rotation dangerously thin. Philadelphia began the second half by taking three of four from the Miami Marlins, and the Phillies have this short road trip to the Big Apple before a couple of 4-game series at home against the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals.
It all started so well for Nola, the Phillies winning five of his first seven assignments and the Baton Rouge native pitching to a 2.89 ERA at that point. But since beating the Milwaukee Brewers in early-May, things have taken a bad turn for Nola. Philadelphia is 4-7 in his starts since that point with Nola’s ERA 5.77 in the span.
He’s had two weeks off since beating the Cubs in Chicago, a 15-10 final as -140 chalk at Intertops (visit our Intertops Review) with Nola allowing four earned runs over his six innings of work. Nola was outstanding when he faced the Yankees last season, allowing a run in six innings while whiffing a dozen. Philadelphia relievers blew it in a 3-1 final, however. Tuesday will mark the first time in Nola’s career that he’s climbed the hill at Yankee Stadium.
New York managed to gain a game on the Red Sox by taking two of three from the division leaders over the weekend. The team has several stars, including Aaron Judge, out due to virus protocol and testing, so winning the series was a big boost for club morale. Exactly when the Yankees get Judge, Kyle Higashioka and Gio Urshela back in the dugout is an unknown.
Originally scheduled to start New York’s first game after the all-star break, German saw that go by the wayside due to the positive virus tests. He did get in an inning of relief work on Friday when the Yankees fell to the Red Sox 4-0 as small home underdogs in the MLB betting odds, so he might be on a shorter leash than normal in this one.
German’s appearance last Friday was his third consecutive from the bullpen after he was displaced from the rotation due to a horrible month of June. One of the ugly outings in June came against the Phillies, German lifted in the fifth having surrendered seven runs on 10 hits. That was the first time he faced Philadelphia, and German is still looking for his first home win of the season.
Discounting the two World Series meetings (1950, 2009), this has been an evenly-fought interleague matchup. Philadelphia has a slight 19-17 advantage after taking both games at Citizens Bank Park roughly five weeks ago, totals splitting in the two contests. The clubs halved last year’s four regular season matchups, three of the games played in Philadelphia and the Yankees winning the lone contest in New York where the final pushed a 9-run total.
The weatherman is telling us the game will begin with the thermometer in the mid-80s and clear skies. There will be a 5-8 mph breeze from the South (right to left) at first pitch, and that wind will shift more to the West (out to center) as the game progresses. We know the Yankees are going to be active buyers at the trade deadline, and this series could go a long way in determining just how involved the Phillies are going to be. Philadelphia should be involved enough tonight to warrant a free MLB pick on the visitors.
MLB Pick: Phillies -119 at Heritage Sports (visit our Heritage Sports Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.