MLB Baseball
2026-05-29 - New York Yankees at Athletics
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : Major League Baseball
Friday 29th May 2026 - Scheduled 9:40pm EST
02:40am (British Time)
Preview
It is not quite a nomad existence for the Athletics (27-29), but they will continue to play without a city name until the move to Las Vegas is completed in what they hope will be the 2028 season. Despite that, the Athletics have made a good start to the 2026 season as they continue to play in Sacramento and the team are only behind the Seattle Mariners by 0.5 games in the American League West.
That is mainly down to a run of five losses in the last six games, which included a sweep by the aforementioned Mariners.
The Athletics have had a day off between series, but they are going into another tough one against the New York Yankees (34-22), who have moved back to 1.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East thanks to a run of four straight wins.
Fans of the Yankees will have been very interested to see the proposal from the Major Leagues to align this sport with other North American spots and introduce a Salary Cap. This would adversely affect the Yankees, who are one of the big spenders in the Major Leagues, while the Athletics would also be affected as one of the lowest spenders that would need to bring the payroll up to a minimum level.
A lockout feels inevitable and that does mean there is some pressure on the New York Yankees to end the long Championship wait in 2026.
New York are getting healthier in the starting pitching rotation and they look like a team that could be very dangerous in October.
On Friday, they will give the ball to Carlos Rodon who has a 0-2 record and 4.15 ERA from the three starts made this season having begun his season later than others. After a rough opening year in the famous pinstripes, Carlos Rodon has had a productive couple of seasons and the Yankees will not be concerned about his early record and instead will focus on the ERA, which is not in a terrible place as he builds his rhythm.
Carlos Rodon gave up five runs in 8 Innings thrown across two starts to open the season, but looked much more like his old self when restricting the Toronto Blue Jays to a single run in 5 Innings thrown last time out. That is the longest start of the season so far, while Carlos Rodon will be confident ahead of this game having put together a 5-1 record and 2.75 ERA in nine career starts against the Athletics.
In the last of those, Carlos Rodon was knocked around for four runs in 6 Innings thrown in May 2025, but that should not be on affecting his confidence with this New York batting lineup backing him up.
The Athletics will counter with a player familiar with the New York Yankees when giving the ball to Luis Severino.
The starting pitcher spent his first nine years in the Major Leagues with the Yankees before moving to the New York Mets and then the Athletics. This is Luis Severino's second year in California, but he brings in a 2-5 record and 4.23 ERA from eleven starts made for the Athletics in 2026.
Luis Severino began May with three straight decision losses in a row, although a couple of those were hard luck defeats. He has a 2.92 ERA in his last six starts for the Athletics, but a 2-3 record as the batting lineup have lost a bit of consistency.
Earlier this season, Luis Severino allowed just two runs in 5 Innings thrown at Yankee Stadium- the Athletics won, but Severino did not factor into the decision.
It is an outing that will give Luis Severino some belief having been roughed up by the Yankees since departing the Bronx. That start earlier in the season means Luis Severino now has a 0-2 record and 10.66 ERA from three career starts against the New York Yankees and he is likely going to remember giving up eight runs in 4 Innings in this ballpark twelve months ago.
The Athletics have won three of the last five against the New York Yankees, including taking two of three on the road earlier this season.
Prediction
Two starting pitchers head to the mound with some belief in their own recent level, but it is Carlos Rodon who can expect a bit more backing from the batting lineup.
Luis Severino pitched well at Yankee Stadium earlier this season, but the New York Yankees know him well enough to have a stronger outing and make it five wins in a row for The Bronx Bombers.
The Pick :
Athletics 4-7 New York Yankees
