MLB Baseball
2026-10-05 - New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : MLB Playoff Divisional Round Game 2
Monday 5th October 2026 - Scheduled 5pm EST
10pm (British Time)
Preview
One run and a big performance from the starting pitcher helped the Tampa Bay Rays take a 1-0 lead in the Divisional Round Series against the New York Yankees. Fans of the Bronx Bombers will be ruing Austin Wells' decision to try and steal a Triple in such a tight game, which may have turned the momentum, and there is some pressure on the New York Yankees to avoid being on the brink of elimination before this Series shifts back to Gotham.
Aaron Judge has been ruled out of the Series, but the Yankees did have Giancarlo Stanton back as a Pinch Hitter, although the moment could have been huge if Wells had decided to stick with the obvious Double when everyone was urging him to do so. That may have put Stanton and his huge Playoff experience on the line to drive a run in, but instead the Yankees will be wondering what might have been.
They will turn to Cam Schlittler in Game 2 of the Divisional Round and will be hoping the young pitcher can produce something similar to another hugely impressive Wild Card performance. Last year Cam Schlittler did the exact same to the Boston Red Sox as he has done in the 2026 Wild Card Series, but he gave up two runs into the 7th Inning in the Divisional Round loss to the Toronto Blue Jays in the next Playoff start.
Cam Schlittler is a lot more experienced at the end of his sophomore season in the Major League and he had a big regular season.
In the last of those, Schlittler was pulled out at the end of the 3rd Inning having allowed a single run to the Tampa Bay Rays. He has pitched twice on the road against the Rays this season and allowed four runs in 13 Innings thrown, but the most recent of those starts was the more impressive when Cam Schlittler completed 8 Innings and allowed a single run.
The Rays have to be confident in their approach after winning Game 1 to take the lead in the Series and they will give the ball to Freddy Peralta in Game 2.
After struggling with the New York Mets, Freddy Peralta was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays and has put together a 5-2 record and 3.25 ERA in the ten starts made in this uniform. He had to absorb consecutive defeats at the end of August, but Peralta has bounced back to go 5-0 with a 0.79 ERA in his last six regular season starts.
Freddy Peralta has not pitched against the Yankees as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays, but did allow three runs in 5 Innings earlier this season when still with the New York Mets.
He did not factor into the decision in that start, while Freddy Peralta finished with a 1-2 record and 4.70 ERA in his three Playoff starts for the Milwaukee Brewers last season.
Prediction
After battering the Boston Red Sox into submission, the New York Yankees will be hoping the Offensive struggles in Game 1 of the Divisional Round Series is an outlier in the 2026 Playoffs.
Bouncing back will not be easy considering how Freddy Peralta was performing down the stretch, but New York will be expecting more from the batters and they will certainly not be expecting the same kind of mistakes as Austin Wells made in Game 1.
Having Cam Schlittler on the mound is a bonus for the Yankees who only allowed a single run in Game 1 of this Series.
The second year pitcher had some tough moments against the Rays, but had a big performance the last time Schlittler was pitching in this ballpark and he can help the Yankees level things up before returning home for two games.
The Pick :
Tampa Bay Rays 2-3 New York Yankees
