Monday MLB Best Bet: Yankees vs. Twins

Written by Jake Thompson
Monday, 04 April 2011 18:45

Monday’s MLB best bet will be in the game between the Yankees and the Twins.

The Minnesota Twins (1-2) will travel to Yankee Stadium to take on the New York Yankees (2-1) this afternoon, and we have decided this game will be our MLB best bet for Monday.  The clash between the Yankees and Twins will be shown live on ESPN at 7:00 PM ET and Las Vegas has set New York as a medium-sized favorite with an over/under at 10 runs. 

The Yankees have won 5 of the last 6 head-to-head meetings with the Twins and have been the more impressive team so far in the early part of the 2011 MLB season.  New York’s offense is producing 7.67 runs per game with a .271 average while the Twins are batting just .198 and crossing 2.67 runs per outing. The Yankees’ bullpen ERA of 3.38 also easily bests the horrid 6.55 ERA and 2.09 WHIP that the Twins’ relievers have combined for on the season.

Starting pitchers for this game will be Scott Baker for the Twins and Ivan Nova for the Yankees.  Baker was terrific in spring while coming back from an elbow injury and the right-hander has had an up-and-down history against New York.  He has 3 career starts where he gave up only 2 runs on 8 hits over 17 innings, but another 2 where he lasted only 9 innings while giving up 19 hits and 10 runs.  Nova is a hard-throwing prospect that was unhittable in spring ball, but he’s a bit of a wild card since he’s never faced the Twins and was not sharp in his starts during the 2010 season.

Our MLB best bet for Monday has to be on the New York Yankees simply because Minnesota isn’t hitting and facing a prospect for the first time is often difficult for teams.  New York has a dominant lineup and Baker might still not be at 100% despite doing enough in spring to look like he is back to form.  The Yankees are not overpriced for once and I think the correct play will be for the home team to get a comfortable win.

Twins 4
Yankees 6