Houston Astros vs New York Yankees ALCS Game 4 MLB Betting Odds and Preview

The Houston Astros look to take a 3-1 series lead when they take on the New York Yankees in Game 4 of the 2019 American League Championship Series (ALCS) on Wednesday.

Astros Ride Cole’s Streak

Although he wasn’t as dominant as expected, Cole was still terrific as he allowed just four hits, five walks and had strikeouts in seven scoreless innings for the Astros. Not only did he improve to 8-0 with a 0.84 ERA in his last eight starts, the Astros rode Cole’s streak to take a 2-1 series lead over the New York Yankees in the 2019 ALCS. More importantly, Houston reclaimed the home field advantage after losing Game 1 at home.

The Astros are set to send rookie Jose Urquidy in Game 4. Urquidy was 2-1 with an ERA of 3.95 in seven starts. In his last outing, Urquidy pitched 1.2 scoreless innings in a relief job in Game 4 against the Tampa Bay Rays. He has never pitched against the Yankees and will only start his second playoff games.

Yankees Need to Wake Up

The New York Yankees scored 30 runs in four games prior to Games 2 and 3 of this series, including seven runs in their Game 1 victory. However, they have scored just three runs since then and are now down 1-2 in the series with Game 4 set for Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. Despite coming off a loss, New York is the MLB betting favorite to win Game 4.

The Yankees have not named their starter yet as of this writing and they are likely to throw a reliever to start the game and make Game 4 a bullpen day. The Yankees ranked 14th with an ERA of 4.31 and 4th in strikeouts with 1,534 on the season. Chad Green could get the start and he is 4-4 with 2 saves and a 4.17 ERA this season.

Who Wins?

The Astros are 15-5 SU in their last 20 games played. Houston is 3-2 SU in their last five road games played and 15-5 SU in their last 20 games against the American League conference. The Yankees are 4-2 SU in their last six games played and New York is 4-1 SU in their last five games played at home. Head to head, the Yankees are 8-3 SU in their last 11 home games against the Astros.

Houston is 1-4 SU in their last five League Championship road games played and 1-5 SU in their last six League Championship games overall. The Astros are also 6-11 in their last 17 road playoffs games and 2-5 SU in their last seven games at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees are 60-20 SU in their last 80 home games against against an opponent with a winning road record and 19-7 SU in their last 26 games against an opponent with a winning percentage of .600 or higher. New York is also 9-2 SU in their last 11 home games in the playoffs and 4-1 SU in their last five playoff games overall.

I will give the advantage to the Yankees here. New York is coming off a loss against Justin Verlander and Gerritt Cole in Games 2 and 3 but will be facing rookie Jose Urquidy in Game 4. I have nothing against Urquidy who had success in his last outing as he pitched 1.2 scoreless innings against Tampa Bay but not only has he pitched in a big game like this one but he has never faced the Yankees before.

Sure, the New York offense has struggled to score runs in the first three games of the series but with a line-up like theirs, it’s hard to keep them grounded for too long. The Yankees are in desperate need for a win here and I think that Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres will make an impact in Game 4. Houston has scored only seven runs in three games. The Yankees will look to their bats to carry them to victory here.

Prediction: New York Yankees

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Over/Under Bet

The total has gone under in four out of the last five games played by Houston. The total has gone under in 12 out of the last 16 games played by the Astros. The total has gone under in four out of the last five games played by New York. The under is 4-1 in the last five games of the Yankees against the American League. Head to head, the under is 4-2 in the last six meetings between these two teams.

We have seen three low scoring games so far in this series and these teams have combined to score only 17 runs so far with the Yankees scoring 7 runs in Game 1. But remember that these were high-scoring teams during the regular season with the Yankees leading the league at 5.82 runs per contest and Houston at third with their 5.68 runs per game average.

New York showed their offensive prowess in Game 1 with seven runs scored but they have scored just three since then. I know that New York has to find a way to get their guns going but with the team facing the prospect of going down 1-3 in this series, I think their bats will wake up in Game 4. New York is facing a rookie pitcher who has never seen them before and who has only pitched one playoff game in his MLB career. That should be the cue. The trends point to the under but you can’t keep these teams silent for too long.

Prediction: Over 8.5

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