MLB Baseball
2025-09-17 - New York Yankees at Minnesota Twins
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : MLB Baseball
Wednesday 17th August 2025 - Scheduled 7:40pm
12:40am (British Time)
Preview
The chances of closing the gap to a team that have won six in a row and who have a 5 game lead at the top of the American League East are slim to say the least, but the New York Yankees (84-67) have to remain motivated to put a strong finish together.
Topping the Wild Card Race would mean at least hosting the opening Series in the post-season and to that end the Yankees are 1.5 games clear of the Houston Astros. They will also want to avoid giving any of those teams chasing a top three finish in the Wild Card placings any encouragement by watching a team faltering and so it was important to hang onto a win on Tuesday.
In all honesty they should not have been hanging on.
New York were leading 10-1, but the bullpen struggles continue to hold back the team since the All Star Break and they eventually did just enough to secure a 10-9 win over the Minnesota Twins (66-85) to level this series.
At least in this final game of this series the Yankees will be able to give the ball to Luis Gil who has been one of the top starters for the team since the beginning of the 2024 season.
Poor health has meant limiting Luis Gil to just eight starts this season, but he looks ready to lead the Yankees into the Playoffs. The pitcher has a 4-1 record and 2.83 ERA and Gil has not allowed more than two runs in any of his last seven starts after opening the season by giving up five runs.
In September, Luis Gil has thrown 12 Innings across two starts and allowed a single earned run and picked up the decision win both times. He is facing the Minnesota Twins for the first time this season and held this team scoreless when throwing 6 Innings against them in 2024.
The Yankees will be hoping Luis Gil can go deep into this game to protect the struggling bullpen and he has thrown into the 6th Inning in each of his last three starts.
Minnesota will counter by handing the ball to Taj Bradley who arrived in a trade from the Tampa Bay Rays during the season and is very familiar with the New York Yankees. The pitcher has a 0-1 record and 6.33 ERA in four starts made for the Twins, but that familiarity with this batting lineup may give Bradley confidence to produce better.
Taj Bradley missed a month of action between the end of July and end of August before making his debut in the Minnesota uniform and he has allowed at least three runs in three of the four starts made. He has not factored into any of the last three decisions, despite allowing eight runs in 16 Innings on the mound.
In two starts against the New York Yankees in 2025 when still a member of the Tampa Bay Rays, Taj Bradley has allowed eight runs in just shy of 11 Innings thrown.
The Twins had won two in a row in this series, but have lost ten of the last twelve.
Prediction
There was nothing wrong with the batting power shown by the New York Yankees on Tuesday, but they needed all ten runs to secure the win over the Minnesota Twins.
Bullpen issues in mid-September are worrying with the team trending towards the Playoff, but Luis Gil is a starter that can chew through the Innings for the Yankees in this one.
The batters should know what to expect from Taj Bradley and can put some runs together and it could lead to a New York win and cover of this Run Line.
The Pick :
Minnesota Twins 4-7 New York Yankees
