MLB Baseball
2025-09-18 - New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : MLB Baseball
Thursday 18th August 2025 - Scheduled 7:15pm
12:15am (British Time)
Preview
For the second night in a row, the New York Yankees (85-67) scored ten runs in a game and this time the bullpen did not go through the drama of clinging onto a win. The 10-5 victory over the Minnesota Twins secured another series win and the Yankees are now back to 4 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays at the top of the American League East, while 4.5 games clear of the chasing pack in the Wild Card Race.
It is incredibly unlikely that the Yankees will find a way to move past the Blue Jays, especially as the latter also hold the tie-breaker, but Manager Aaron Boone will be looking to finish top of the Wild Card standings. That would at least mean hosting a Series in the post-season and the Yankees need to remain focused ahead of this four game set with the Baltimore Orioles (72-80).
Elimination has been made official for the Orioles in what has been an incredibly underwhelming season- the expectations going into 2025 would have been an outside challenger for the World Series, but Baltimore started poorly and were never able to recover.
The team just swept a series against the Chicago White Sox and will be motivated to play spoiler for a Divisional rival during this four game series at Camden Yards.
There are actually seven more regular season games scheduled between the teams and it would have been expected that they would mean a lot to both teams instead of just for the New York Yankees. It obviously does mean Baltimore can still have a significant impact on the Playoff shake up and they will give the ball to Cade Povich to open this set at home.
Cade Povich has a 3-7 record and a 5.05 ERA in twenty appearances in 2025 and eighteen of those have been in starts. His numbers are slightly better than his rookie season of 2024, although the Home Runs and Walks are higher.
It can be said that Cade Povich has been consistently inconsistent over the last several weeks, but he is coming into this game having contained the Pittsburgh Pirates to two runs in almost 6 completed Innings. He did not factor into the decision in that start, while the young pitcher has not really been able to produce consecutive high class starts since May.
Cade Povich did not factor into the decision when he was withdrawn towards the end of the 5th Inning against the New York Yankees earlier this season. He had allowed three runs in his time on the mound, but Baltimore were able to rally for a 5-4 win.
The Yankees will counter with Max Fried who has a 17-5 record and 3.03 ERA in his thirty starts made in his first season with the team. He has been a strong pitcher throughout his career in the Major League, and has considerable Playoff experience, and so the Yankees will lean on Fried for as long as this season is to last.
With a struggling bullpen, Max Fried has been key in chewing through the Innings for the Yankees and had completed at least 6 Innings in four straight starts. That run was ended in the last outing against the Boston Red Sox when withdrawn during the Sixth Inning, although Max Fried still earned the decision win having contained that rival to two runs in his time on the mound.
Max Fried is not only unbeaten in six starts for the Yankees, but he has earned the decision win five times in that stretch while operating with a 3.38 ERA.
In his sole start against Baltimore earlier this season, Max Fried allowed three runs in 6 Innings thrown, but did not factor into the decision.
Six regular season games have been played against one another this season and the Divisional rivals have split them with three wins each.
Prediction
With a pitcher looking like he can find a way to get through the first half of this game and with a batting lineup that just pumped out twenty runs in two games, the New York Yankees can extend their winning run to three games.
The Orioles will be motivated by playing spoiler, but Cade Povich has been a little inconsistent on the mound and their own batting lineup has had its recent problems.
A three game sweep of the lowly Chicago White Sox will have given Baltimore a shot of confidence, but the Yankees pose a much tougher challenge.
Barring another bullpen collapse, the Yankees should have enough at the plate to power to another road win.
The Pick :
Baltimore Orioles 3-6 New York Yankees
