The Yankees opened as favorites to clinch the AL East for the fourth consecutive season.
With Aaron Judge leading in WAR for three of the last four campaigns and Gerrit Cole expected to return in June, there are worse investments you could make than FanDuel’s +175 tag on the Bombers.
The $700 you would have to plunk down to only see $100 on the Dodgers winning the NL West puts that price (and a looming lockout over salary caps) in perspective.
Brian Cashman will run it back with the same veteran club that just delivered back-to-back 94-win seasons.
As usual, a lot of this depends on Judge’s health as he lives out his MVP prime — and that’s a lot of variability to me.
A full season from Cam Schlittler alongside a bona fide ace in Max Fried is exciting.
After the Yankees were clobbered by the Blue Jays in the ALDS, other rotations offer a stronger venture.
Dylan Cease fills the void left by Chris Bassitt in Toronto. Still, the Blue Jays’ depth pales in comparison to the Red Sox, who project as FanGraph’s No. 1 rotation in 2026 and are priced at +280 odds for the division.
Last we saw Garrett Crochet, he outmatched Fried in Game 1 of the Wild Card series with 11 strikeouts, one run allowed and no walks in 7 ⅓ innings. No pitcher recorded more strikeouts than Crochet (255), and he pitched a career-high 205 ⅓ innings to collect 18 wins, second-most overall.
Crochet is primed to top that total; he pitched five no-decisions in starts where he threw at least six innings and allowed two runs or fewer. He’s gunning for a Cy Young after Tarik Skubal made it two straight.
The lefty opened a hair behind Skubal as the favorite in the AL Cy Young market at +400 odds.
Craig Breslow bolstered the rotation’s depth by adding Sonny Gray and Ranger Suàrez this offseason. At 36, Gray finished No. 9 overall in K/9 with 10.00. The veteran right-hander complements Crochet with one of baseball’s most diverse arsenals, low walk rates and the endurance to pitch into the seventh inning.
Suàrez has pinpoint command and weak contact inducement; his hard-hit rate ranked within Statcast’s top-two percentile, and his Location+ rating was 13 percent better than the league average.
Brayan Bello brings a strong groundball profile as the fourth starter, and the newly acquired Johan Oviedo rounds out the rotation with eye-popping velocity.
Defensively, Caleb Durbin could be a better Alex Bregman replacement than most expected with slick defensive potential at the hot corner.
Roman Anthony gets to start the season after fulfilling his expectations as the No. 1 prospect in baseball last year, slashing .292/.396/.463 and finishing third in AL Rookie of the Year voting despite playing only 71 games.
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On the heels of 89 wins, Boston has three bats capable of 20 home runs in Wilyer Abreu, Trevor Story and Jarren Duran.
Ceddanne Rafaela adds flickers at the plate, and there’s untapped upside in a promising young pool of Marcelo Mayer, Kristian Campbell and Triston Casas, too.
I’m not discounting the improved Orioles and Rays either, but starting pitching is paramount, and Boston’s rotation can anchor its offense for a run at the AL East crown.
THE PLAY: Red Sox to Win AL East (+280, FanDuel)
Why Trust New York Post Betting
Sean Treppedi handicaps the NFL, NHL, MLB and college football for the New York Post. He primarily focuses on picks that reflect market value while tracking trends to mitigate risk.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
