Atlanta Braves vs New York Yankees

The New York Yankees will be playing their 17th straight game vs. a team with a winning record. That is enough to break down any team, but this Yankee team has overall been 29-14 when facing a team better than .500. The Atlanta Braves made a great move picking up Chris Sale. Sale has spent most of the last few years out for most of the games with several different injuries. He appears healthy Rodon and Sale are both having all-star caliber years. The tipping point is that Sale has an ERA in 20 career starts vs. the Yankees of 3.28. Rodon has also has had success vs. the Braves  where he has allowed one run, five hits and has recorded 18 strikeouts. I like the UNDER in this one.

Atlanta has dominated the first two games of the series winning by a combined 16-3 score after its 5-0 shutout victory on Tuesday night when the Yankees managed only one hit and they now are 12-22 since July 4 and 25-32 on the road this year and they have lost 20 of their past 27 road games. The Braves are 39-20 at home and they have won seven of their past nine games with a combined score 75-31 over that span. Charlie Morton is 11-10 with a 3.71 ERA and he comes off five shutout innings on three hits in a 7-0 victory over the Mets on Friday. Randy Vasquez is scheduled to make just his fourth start of the season and he gave up two runs in 3 2/3 innings in a relief role against Miami on Friday. New York is 30-46 versus teams with winning records in the second half of the past two seasons and the Yankees are fading fast again. Take the Braves as a Max Play. 

Atlanta improved to 38-20 at home and 34 games over .500 overall as the Braves had 15 hits and defeated the Yankees 11-3 on Monday night. Nicky Lopez had three hits and three RBIs for the Braves and New York lost its third straight and fell farther into last place in the AL East. Bryce Elder is on the mound for Atlanta tonight and he is 8-4 with a 3.64 ERA and 1.24 WHIP and he'll try to bounce back from a couple of bad outings against the Cubs and Pirates. However, the Yankees have never faced Elder and he is 5-0 with a 2.74 ERA in night games this season and the Braves' bullpen is tied for the major league lead with a 1.21 WHIP. Luis Severino has been disastrous for New York this year as he is 2-7 with a monstrous 8.06 ERA and 1.88 WHIP and the Yankees have lost his past three starts by a combined score of 25-8. Severino allowed 18 runs on 20 hits in only 9 1/3 innings in those games. New York is 25-31 on the road. Make it a Max Play on the Braves.