MLB Baseball
2026-08-27 - Houston Astros at New York Yankees
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : Major League Baseball
Thursday 27th August 2026 - Scheduled 7:05pm EST
12:05am (British Time)
Preview
The penultimate series of the regular season is going to be a four game set between the top two teams in the American League East and that could be the decider when it comes to the top Seed overall. There is a huge difference between winning the Division and very likely earning a spot in the Divisional Round and finishing second to have to begin the post-season run in the Wild Card Round, but looking too far down the line would be a mistake even as the regular season begins to head into the final stretch.
The New York Yankees (75-57) are still 3.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East, but they have a chance to close that gap when they play on Thursday and the Rays are scheduled for a day off. A big series is coming up against the Boston Red Sox across the weekend, but the Yankees have shown some life in the batting department over the last couple of weeks and begun to back up the strong pitching.
The first two games of this three game set against the Houston Astros (66-67) have been split and the road team are now just 0.5 games ahead of the Texas Rangers in the American League West. The Seattle Mariners are a further 2 games behind, but this is looking like a race that may go right down to the wire and Houston need to find some consistency to fend off the rivals.
Houston will stay in New York across the weekend as they play the Mets next, but the focus is on Thursday when they hand the ball to Hayden Wesneski who has a 3-1 record and 4.23 ERA in the five starts made this season.
Hayden Wesneski was selected in the Draft by the New York Yankees, but never pithed in the Major League for them and it has been a difficult time for him as he has been through Tommy John surgery. That has meant making just eleven starts for the Houston Astros since the beginning of the 2025 season, although he returned to the rotation a month ago and is in line for a sixth consecutive start.
Last time out, Hayden Wesneski enjoyed his best start on his return when holding the Athletics scoreless through 5 Innings thrown. It was a performance that saw the pitcher bounce back from his shortest start of 2026 after being knocked around by the Seattle Mariners and withdrawing at the end of the 4th Inning.
This will be the first time Hayden Wesneski has started against theNew York Yankees and the Houston Astros will need a big effort as he is going to be duelling Gerrit Cole.
Both pitchers will understand what the other has been through as Gerrit Cole missed the entirety of the 2025 season having undergone Tommy John surgery too. He has been able to make sixteen starts on his return and Cole has a 7-6 record and 3.11 ERA in 2026, which will have given the Yankees a huge sense of comfort.
Like Wesneski, Gerrit Cole is going up against a former team, although one he did represent in the Majors, and the veteran is heading into this start knowing he is giving his team a chance to win games. Over the last nine starts, the ERA has dropped to 2.45, while Gerrit Cole has a 1.82 ERA in his four August starts.
A clear issue for several weeks is that the New York batting lineup has not been able to back up their starting pitchers, but there have been signs of life from that unit and that will be music to Gerrit Cole's ears.
It is quite staggering to think, but Gerrit Cole is pitching against the Houston Astros for the first time since the 2022 Playoffs when he gave up three runs in 5 Innings thrown to absorb the decision loss.
Thursday will be the last regular season meeting between these rivals and it is the New York Yankees who lead three wins to two in 2026.
Prediction
Scoring enough runs has been a season long problem for the New York Yankees having lost key contributors to injury, but they have scored at least seven runs in each of the last three outings.
With Gerrit Cole playing at a high level, that should give the Yankees the edge in this deciding game of this series and they can pick up the win over Hayden Wesneski and the inconsistent Houston Astros.
The Pick :
New York Yankees 5-1 Houston Astros
