The New York Yankees continue to slug their way to the top of the American League wild card standings with another convincing win over the Minnesota Twins last night.
The Yankees will go for their ninth win in a row in a matinee matchup against the Twins and they’ll be sizeable favorites as they hand the ball to ace Gerrit Cole. But does Minny have some value as an underdog as they counter with Kenta Maeda?
Check out our MLB free picks and predictions for Twins vs. Yankees on Saturday, August 20, and find out.
Twins vs Yankees game info
• Location: Yankee Stadium, New York, NY
• Date: Saturday, August 21, 2021
• Time: 1:05 p.m. ET
• TV: FS1
Twins vs Yankees odds
Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.
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Twins vs Yankees betting preview
Starting pitchers
Kenta Maeda (6-4, 4.50 ERA): Maeda got off to a horrible start this season but lately he has looked more like the guy who finished second in AL Cy Young voting a season ago. Maeda has a 2.98 ERA and is limiting opponents to a .210 batting average in eight starts since the beginning of July.
Gerrit Cole (11-6, 3.04 ERA): Cole looked like his old dominant self in his first start since testing positive for COVID by limiting the Angels to one run on two hits while striking out nine in 5 2-3 innings of work. The performance lowered his ERA to 3.04 and his WHIP to 0.97.
Weather
Be sure to monitor the gametime conditions with our MLB weather info.
Key injuries
Twins: Byron Buxton CF (Out), Joe Harvey RP (Out), Devin Smeltzer RP (Out), Jorge Alcala RP (Out), Derek Law RP (Out), Luke Farrell RP (Out).
Yankees: Gleyber Torres SS (Out), Gio Urshela 3B (Out), Clint Frazier OF (Out), Miguel Andujar LF (Out).
Find our latest MLB injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The Under is 4-1 in Gerrit Cole’s last five starts overall. Find more MLB betting trends for Twins vs. Yankees.
Moneyline pick
The Yankees haven’t lost a game since getting walked off by the White Sox in a cornfield in Iowa back on August 12. They are 8-0 since then and now own the top spot in the American League wild card race.
The odds are in the Yankees' favor to make it an incredible nine in a row as they hand the ball to Cole. The right-hander is limiting opponents to a .206 batting average, and he leads the AL in strikeouts, strikeout-to-walk ratio, WHIP, and FIP.
He faces a Twins team that ranks 21st in batting average and has struck out the 11th most when facing right-handers over the last month. Cole also limited the Twins to two runs on five hits while striking out nine batters in six innings back in June.
While Maeda has a chance to be effective in this matchup (more on this in a moment), he’ll eventually have to hand the ball to a bullpen that ranks 25th in ERA and 22nd in opponent batting average, and the Twins offense won’t be able to do enough against Cole.
The Yanks have won seven of the eight games during this winning streak by multiple runs. They should do it again here.
PREDICTION: Yankees -1.5 (-115)
Over/Under pick
When it comes to the total, 9.0 seems a little high considering the starters on the mound in this matchup. We already talked about how Cole can and likely will be able to shut down this Twins lineup but Maeda should be able to put on a good performance as well.
As noted, Maeda is pitching very well lately, allowing three earned runs or fewer in seven of his last eight starts. And even though the Yankees are rolling right now, over the last month they still rank 19th in batting average when it comes to facing righties while striking the second most.
Maeda should be able to keep the Yanks down long enough for this one to sneak below the number.
PREDICTION: Under 9 (-110)
Twins vs Yankees betting card
- Yankees -1.5 (-115)
- Under 9 (-110)
Picks made on 8/20/2021 at 11:15 p.m. ET
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