The Daily Sweat: When will the slumping Yankees win again?
The other day, the New York Yankees broadcasters pointed out that the Yankees had the worst record in baseball since Aaron Judge came off the injured list July 28. That was a couple of losses ago.
The Yankees have lost nine in a row, their longest losing streak since 1982, and they have been favorites or small underdogs for most of that streak. Other than three games at the Atlanta Braves, in which the Yankees were underdogs of at least +166, the coldest team in baseball was favored four times and underdogs of less than +135 the other two times, according to Covers.com.
In other words, there has been money to be made fading the Yankees.
The Yankees are back in action Wednesday. They are -140 favorites at BetMGM against the Washington Nationals. They were -173 favorites Tuesday and lost 2-1.
The Yankees' offense has been lost most of the season, and even Judge's return couldn't save it. The pitching is falling apart lately, too, with a 4.96 ERA over the past 30 days, according to FanGraphs. And that's with Gerrit Cole, the AL Cy Young favorite at BetMGM.
New York is 60-65. With a payroll of $279.4 million — second-most in MLB, according to Spotrac — the Yankees' failures are embarrassing. The Baltimore Orioles are in first in the AL East with a payroll of $70.6 million, about one-fourth of what the Yankees are spending.
The Yankees won't lose every day the rest of the season — at least, we don't think so — which means bettors can't cash tickets fading them every day. But there's still plenty of value betting against the Yankees, no matter how bad they've been.
Here's the first look at the sports betting slate for Wednesday:
Full day in MLB
There are 15 MLB games, including eight in the afternoon. Among the matinees, the Seattle Mariners will try to extend their eight-game winning streak against the Chicago White Sox. The Mariners are -225 favorites with George Kirby on the mound. Seattle's win streak has pushed it one game ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays for the final AL wild-card spot.
There is also a good pitching matchup between division leaders in the afternoon. Corbin Burnes is on the mound for the Milwaukee Brewers against Kenta Maeda of the Minnesota Twins. The Brewers are -140 favorites.
WNBA continues
There is just one WNBA game Wednesday. The Phoenix Mercury play at the Los Angeles Sparks. The Sparks are 9.5-point favorites.
What's the best bet?
Luis Severino is on the mound for the Yankees, which means we have to fade them again. The Yankees are going to win eventually, but let's go with the Nationals as a +115 underdog.
