Major League Baseball Predictions

Of course, New York still hold a sizeable cushion in the American League East standings but there is hope for the chasing pack, with the Toronto Blue Jays – currently the side directly below the Yankees – having the perfect chance to close the gap further.

Unfortunately for the Blue Jays, their form this month has hardly been any better than the Yankees as they have won just four of their 11 games in August.

The Yankees boast a strong offence which has struck a league-leading 192 home runs, while ranking second in runs (596), runs batted in (570), and on-base plus slugging percentage (.788). Aaron Judge of course has set the benchmark with 46 home runs, 12 clear of Kyle Schwarber in second, but Anthony Rizzo (27) and Giancarlo Stanton (24) tie for eighth and 15th respectively to show that the Yankees are not just a one-man team.

That could be ominous for the Blue Jays, whose greater strength lies with the batters as their pitching earned run average of .397 is ranked down in 18th while their .249 average is only 21st.

Alek Manoah has been a standout pitcher for Toronto to lie eighth in the MLB with an ERA of 2.56 but the Blue Jays do not travel well as a team, holding a 26-29 record on the road. They travel to the fortress that is the Yankee Stadium this weekend where the hosts boast the best record in the league, winning 41 of 56 games on their home field.

The Houston Astros have overcome a slow start to the month to win four matches on the bounce and consolidate their position at the summit of the American League. Their good form will be put to the test this weekend as they travel to Truist Park to take on the Atlanta Braves, who have won their last six games, at the time of writing.

The Braves will not be without hope of overturning their 5.5 game deficit to catch the New York Mets in the NL East, but it is worth noting they lost 4-1 to their divisional rivals at the start of the month, and their subsequent purple patch has come against teams with losing records, the Boston Red Sox (57-59) and the Miami Marlins (50-65).

The Astros went down 2-1 to the Red Sox at the start of the month, but their recent hot streak has come at the expense of divisional rivals the Texas Rangers (51-63) and the Oakland Athletics (41-74).

Yordan Alvarez has been the key offensive success story for Houston, ranking second in MLB for OPS (1.025), third for home runs (31) and tied-sixth for runs (74), although as a team, Atlanta hold the edge as they rank second for home runs (177) and slugging percentage (.444), and third for both runs (557) and OPS (.759).

The Astros appear to have the upper hand on the pitching side as their .212 average is the best in the league, while their 384 runs conceded and 802 hits both rank as the second-fewest. Justin Verlander continues to be the class act of the team as he boasts the best ERA (1.85).

There is an intriguing National League East divisional matchup this weekend as the New York Mets make the short trip to Citizens Bank Park to take on the Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets' position in the postseason looks assured as they are top of the division with a 75-40 record, while the Phillies are clinging on to the last Wild Card place with a 63-51 record at the time of writing.

New York are one of the hottest teams in Major League Baseball right now, winning eight of their last nine games, and 17 of their last 20. The Mets are also coming off a 2-1 series win over the Phillies last weekend, although they did have home advantage for those three games. Perhaps not surprisingly, their home performance has been better than their performance on the road, but their away record of 35-21 remains better than Philadelphia's home form of 32-26.

A problem for the Phillies has been that their offence has dried up as they have been shut out in three of their last four games, which includes a 3-0 defeat to the struggling Marlins.

Having taken the opening game against the Mets 2-1 last Saturday, Philadelphia then lost 1-0 and 6-0 on Sunday and the batters are going to have to step up a gear next weekend if they want to stay in control of their Wild Card destiny. Kyle Schwarber could be key to that end – as previously mentioned he is second in the MLB with 34 home runs, behind only Aaron Judge.