MLB Baseball
2026-10-03 - New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : MLB Playoff Divisional Round Game 1
Saturday 3rd October 2026 - Scheduled 6:30pm EST
11:30pm (British Time)
Preview
They finished with the second best record in the American League and the New York Yankees breezed past the Boston Red Sox in the Wild Card Round and knocked out their rivals for a second year in a row.
Once again they will be facing the Number 1 Seed in the American League and once again that is the American League East Champion who consigned the New York Yankees to the Wild Card Round.
This year it is the Tampa Bay Rays rather than the Toronto Blue Jays who stand in the way of the Yankees and there will be a huge amount of respect for each other. It is the Rays who won the season series with seven wins to the Yankees six, but the latter who won six of the last nine and that will mean both teams have respect for one another, but also the belief that they can beat the other.
Both the Rays and Yankees have strong starting rotations and that is going to be really important to how this best of five Divisional Round Series plays out. There are going to be many considering the winner of this Series being a strong favourite to go onto the World Series, but neither team will be overlooking the other and a strong pitching match up has been set for Game 1.
Tampa Bay are the hosts and they will go with Drew Rasmussen who has ben a consistently strong starter in the Major League.
Injuries have meant Drew Rasmussen has perhaps not been given the credit he has deserved, but he has concluded 2026 with a career best 16-5 record and with a 2.67 ERA in thirty starts in the regular season. Not only is Rasmussen unbeaten in his last twelve starts for the Tampa Bay Rays, but he has a 9-0 record and 1.86 ERA in those starts and the pitcher has not allowed more than two runs in any of the last six.
It is a run that started after Drew Rasmussen lasted just one Out into the Third Inning against the New York Yankees when giving up six runs and eventually picking up the decision loss. Drew Rasmussen did conclude the regular season by holding the Yankees to a single run into the 7th Inning and earning the decision win, which also means finishing up with a 2-1 record and a 2.86 ERA against them.
The Yankees will be hoping Aaron Judge can be placed on the roster having missed the Wild Card win over the Boston Red Sox, but they will also be hugely encouraged by the big performances produced in that Series win. Eighteen runs were scored across two games and that will give Gerrit Cole and the rest of the starters some confidence that they will be backed up if they can give New York a solid foundation from which to attack the Number 1 Seed.
Gerrit Cole returned after missing the entirety of 2025 with an injury and he concluded the 2026 regular season with a 10-9 record and 3.61 ERA in twenty-two starts. He had a 3-3 record in the last six starts in the regular season, but Cole finished with a 4.98 ERA and that has to be improved if the Yankees are going to make a strong start to the Divisional Round.
However, like Drew Rasmussen, Gerrit Cole will take the confidence of having held the Tampa Bay Rays to two runs before being withdrawn in the 6th Inning and earning the decision win.
The Yankees starter does have a lot more Playoff experience compared with Drew Rasmussen, and Gerrit Cole finished with a 1-0 record and 2.17 ERA.
Prediction
This should be a really fun Series and the only disappointment is that we are not into the best of seven format of the Playoffs.
That does put the pressure on the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, but neither team will be lacking for confidence.
Drew Rasmussen ended the regular season in stronger form than Gerrit Cole, but the latter has the Playoff experience edge and the Yankees batting performance in the Wild Card Series win over the Boston Red Sox has to have given everyone a lift.
New York also won six of the last nine games against the eventual American League East Champions, and the Yankees look an underdog that may edge Game 1 of this Divisional Round Series.
The Pick :
Tampa Bay Rays 2-3 New York Yankees
