Yankees vs Angels MLB Odds, Picks, Predictions: Back Aaron Judge, Bombers in Anaheim (Wednesday, August 31)

Yankees vs. Angels Odds

The New YorkYankees bested the Los Angeles Angels 7-2 last night in Anaheim. Aaron Judge put on a show for what felt like Yankee Stadium West as he blasted his 51st home run of the season.

New York improved its record to 79-51 and lead the Tampa Bay Rays by seven games in the American League East entering play Wednesday. At 56-74, the only playoffs the Angels will see this year will be on television.

As we saw on Monday, though, it's not impossible for the Angels to beat the Yankees on any given day. Who will get the job done tonight and win the game and the series in this rubber match?

Yankees Need Another Strong Showing on Offense

The Yankees' offense exploded for seven runs Tuesday night. New York was powered by home runs from Judge, Andrew Benintendi, and Anthony Rizzo.

The Yankees have a tougher matchup tonight in the opposing pitcher Patrick Sandoval, who has a 3.05 ERA this season. Sandoval has allowed just a .102 ISO to right-handed batters and a .010 ISO to left-handed batters this season so he should have a good chance to limit the damage here.

Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres, and Jose Trevino would be the most difficult matchups for Sandoval as they all have ISOs above .200 against left-handed pitching this season.

Sandoval has a 3.38 ERA at home this year while the Yankees are second in all of baseball averaging 5.00 runs per game on the road this season.

Angels Lineup Facing Uphill Battle

The Angels are tied for 23rd in all of baseball averaging 4.03 runs per game at home this year. Superstar outfielder Mike Trout has returned from the injured list and Shohei Ohtani continues to push for the AL MVP award.

Still, we probably have to give the edge here to Yankees ace pitcher Gerrit Cole. He has a 3.31 ERA and 3.40 xFIP this year. Cole has a 3.52 ERA away from Yankee Stadium this year.

He also struck out 11 batters in his last start and has a 32% K% this year. Six hitters in the Angels lineup have a K% above 20% against right-handed pitching this season.

Yankees-Angels Pick

The Yankees have struggled since the All-Star break. In the first half of the season, New York was 64-28 (.696 WP) and they're 15-23 (.395 WP) since then.

Still, the Angels are 56-74 (.431 WP) overall and 27-37 (.422 WP) at home. Even with Trout back and a solid pitcher on the mound in Sandoval, the Angels are difficult to trust.

The tiebreaker for me is that this game is meaningless to the Angels while the Yankees are still trying to lock up their division and Judge is actively going for the home run record. I took the Yankees moneyline at -190.

Pick: Yankees ML (-190)