MLB Baseball BETTING PREVIEW - New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays

MLB Baseball

2025-10-04 - New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays

A Sports Betting Preview by FirstDown

New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays
United States : MLB Baseball Playoff Divisional Series Game 1
Saturday 4th October 2025 - Scheduled 4:08pm
9:08pm (British Time)

---

Preview

There are two rivalry battles to come in the Divisional Round of the Playoffs and it seems fitting that one of those is between the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays who finished with the same record in the American League East. However, it is the Blue Jays who earned the Number 1 record in the American League thanks to eight victories over New York, compared with five the other way, and that means Toronto open things up with two games at home.

The Yankees will certainly not be concerned about the match up after winning two of three against Toronto last month in The Bronx, while they rallied from dropping Game 1 of the Wild Card Series to beat Boston Red Sox.

All of the headlines will have been taken by rookie Cam Schlittler who pitched an absolute gem to shut out the Red Sox and earn New York their place in the Divisional Round.

The rookie is expected to be pitching at home next week, most likely in Game 3, but for Game 1 the expectation is that Luis Gil will be given the ball for the New York Yankees.

Luis Gil had a 4-1 record and 3.32 ERA in eleven regular season starts, while he also had two starts in the 2024 Playoff and ended with a 0-0 record, despite a 6.75 ERA. He managed to get through 4 Innings in both of those Playoff starts, but Gil can come out with some confidence knowing that the Yankees bullpen is rested, even though they are still a little inconsistent.

The pitcher will be looking for a bit more solidness from himself when starting Game 1 having ended the regular season with eight runs allowed in just shy of 16 Innings thrown.

However, Luis Gil will note that his best start in September came in a home win over the Toronto Blue Jays when holding this rival to a single run in 6 Innings thrown.

There is a lot excitement around Toronto with the Blue Jays back in the Playoffs and they will give the ball to Kevin Gausman who finished the regular season with a 10-11 record and 3.59 ERA in thirty-two starts. This is going to be Gausman's fourth Playoff start, but he holds a 0-2 record and he gave up three runs in 4 Innings thrown two years ago in the Wild Card Round.

Kevin Gausman's first start against the New York Yankees this season ended without completing the Third Inning and he allowed six runs, whilst also picking up the decision loss. However, he bounced back and gave up four runs in 20 Innings thrown against the American League East rival across three starts.

One of those was in early September when Kevin Gausman went through 8 Innings and held the Yankees to a single run in a winning effort.

Prediction

The Toronto Blue Jays were a batting lineup that would get plenty of contact in the regular season and they will be looking to get the starters out of the game and attack this New York Yankees bullpen.

Luis Gil had some tough moments at the end of the regular season, but the Yankees arms are rested thanks to Cam Schlittler and the starter did contain the Toronto Blue Jays when he faced them last month.

It is Kevin Gausman who is going to be getting the call for the Toronto Blue Jays and he really had the better of the New York Yankees in the last three regular season starts against them.

The batting performances are where the Yankees may feel they have the slight edge with the team capable of hitting plenty of Home Runs, while the Blue Jays will be looking to string the hits together to push runs over Home Plate.

New York did not play well north of the border in the regular season and the pitching edge looks to be narrowly with the home team. The Blue Jays bullpen played well enough in the September to believe they can back up Kevin Gausman effectively and they will likely have a lead to protect when the two starters are withdrawn.

It is never easy to go against this power hitting Yankees team, but Game 1 may still lean narrowly in favour of the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Pick :

Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 New York Yankees

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Toronto Blue Jays to Win at -119 with BetOnline