After blowing Game 3 in gutting fashion, the New York Yankees bounced back strong in their ALDS series against the Cleveland Guardians.
With their backs against the ropes in Cleveland Sunday, the Yankees got a strong start from ace Gerrit Cole in order to force a winner-take-all Game 5 on Monday.
Guardians vs. Yankees Game 5 Betting Odds & Trends
Per BetMGM's John Ewing, the money is all over the Yankees as the favorite to win Game 5. Currently, 63% of bets and 86% of money is on the Yankees at -155. 53% of bets and 57% of the money is on the over at 7.5.
The Yankees have had struggles with their bullpen all season long which has translated to their first round playoff series. Their most effective weapon has been Clay Holmes, who is used as both a closer and setup man. But manager Aaron Boone has made it clear that he does not want to pitch Holmes on back to back games after he suffered injuries in the second half of the season. This philosophy came back to hurt the Yankees when they used right-hander Clarke Schmidt during a blown save in Game 3.
Holmes threw a scoreless inning yesterday, but it would be surprising if he doesn't get in the game at some point in Game 5 given the desperate nature of the situation.
“I totally understand that there’s a plan in place,” Holmes said via the team's website. “I think the rainouts and the four [games] in a row rewrote some of that, honestly. They were taking a lot of things into consideration [for Game 3], watching me and how I came in, how I went about my day. They thought that was the best decision possible for me throughout the rest of the series, maybe not pitching [in Game 3].”
New York will hope the game doesn't come down to bullpens late. But if it does, expect Holmes to be the guy called upon to get the biggest outs down the stretch.
