Yankees vs Reds Picks, Odds & Player Props to Target (May 19)

• The Yankees open up a three-game set with the Reds on Friday, May 19th as -155 moneyline favorites
• Coming into this game, Aaron Judge has hit six home runs in his last six games
• For the Yankees vs Reds predictions, player-prop picks and odds, see below

Having just played eight straight games against American League East rivals, Toronto and Tampa, the Yankees (26-20, 10-10 away) get a bit of a reprieve as they open up a three game series against the Reds (19-24, 12-9 home) in Cincinnati on Friday, May 19th with the first pitch scheduled for 6:40 pm ET.

Cincinnati is quietly hanging around the edges of the NL Central race. Having said that, every team in the division has a chance right now, as no one is running away with it. The Reds will have the advantage of an extra days rest on the Yanks, as they didn’t play on Thursday, arriving home after a six game road trip where they went 3-3.

Viewers can watch this one on the YES Network or Bally Sports Ohio. Find the Yankees vs Reds odds below, as well as our best bet, prediction and player prop picks to target.

Yankees vs Reds Odds

Hopefully this game will get played in its entirety, as thunderstorms are expected to pass through The Queen City at some point Friday evening. Temperatures are expected to be a beautiful 75 degrees, but there’s a 40% chance of precipitation. With a slightly earlier start, fingers are crossed these squads get in a full nine innings.

Sitting amongst the bottom five sides in the league in both team ERA and home runs, the Reds are +135 home underdogs against a Yanks squad that has four players with more dingers than Cincy’s team leader in that category. The over/under total is set at a big number of 10.5 for a game that has a couple suspect hurlers on the hill.

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Odds as of May 18th at DraftKings Sportsbook. Claim a DraftKings promo code to bet on the Yankees vs Reds on May 19th. 

New York (AL) vs Cincinnati Probable Pitchers

With his ERA ballooning to a nasty 6.30 mark after his last start, Clarke Schmidt is looking to bounce back with a positive outing against the Reds on Friday. After Domingo German was suspended for being caught with a foreign substance on his hand against Toronto, the Yanks are desperate for more effective starts from their starters.

In 2022 lefties hit .268/.358/.439 against Clarke Schmidt. That’s not awesome.

But so far in 23 they’re slashing an absurd .378/.446/.689 against him

His new cutter was designed to mitigate the damage done by lefties, but as we can see, no pitch has been hammered more pic.twitter.com/sZX4ABJQYG

— Srechter (@Srechter7) May 14, 2023

A 2017 first round pick of the Bronx Bombers, it has been a rough ride for the hurler in his first season making the rotation out of camp. Opposing hitters are batting over .300 against the 27-year old and he’s only pitched six or more innings once in nine starts.

In his last start, he allowed the most earned runs of any game he’s appeared in this season, giving up seven in just four and two-thirds of work against the Rays, who have overtaken the Yankees as favorites in the AL East division odds.

Schmidt vs Lively Stats

For the Reds, 31-year old Ben Lively will be making his first major league start in five years. After receiving a call-up from Triple-A Louisville last week, Lively ended up making his season debut as a bulk reliever behind opener Derek Law. He picked up a win, working three scoreless innings behind Law that day.

In his only other appearance this season, Lively took the loss on Monday against Colorado after covering two and one-third innings in a traditional relief role. Given that he’ll be returning to the hill Friday on only three days’ rest, expected the righty to be on a somewhat limited pitch count for this start.

Yankees vs Reds Player Prop Picks

In the past week, Aaron Judge and Anthony Rizzo have carried the offense for the Evil Empire, hitting six and three homers, respectively. Coming off a 62 home run season, Judge just destroyed the Blue Jays hitting four bombs across a four game series, including a couple of 460 foot monster shots.

There are very few MLB lineups that contain the kind of monster at the top of the order that the Yanks have in Judge. It’s a always a long shot to bet on a player to hit a home run, but if you want to put down case on anybody to do it, then take the Yankees slugger to continue his hot streak.

Aaron Judge is literally doing damage. pic.twitter.com/mPrcPJDkDh

— MLB (@MLB) May 17, 2023

Meanwhile, for the Reds, Nick Senzel has base hits in six straight games and should be counted on to have some early success against Schmidt. The Yankees starter has allowed 27 hits over 19 innings in his last four starts, so while Senzel isn’t a guarantee, we love him to keep his streak going at -200 to get at least one hit.

Yankees vs Reds Predictions

After spending eight straight days going toe-to-toe with two of the top six teams in baseball, the Yankees should be licking their lips with the Reds being served up next. Only three teams in the entire league have longer World Series odds than Cincinnati.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Reds are one of the best teams to bet on to cover the spread in the MLB odds this campaign. They are 26-17 on the run line this year and provide a 14.79% return on investment.

Basically, the Reds are a good bet to keep it close, but playing in the best division in baseball, the Bronx Bombers can’t pass up what should be easy wins like these. Both sides have unestablished starters on the hill, but the Yanks have a much stronger lineup, so take them to notch a victory in the series opener.

Pick: New York Yankees Moneyline (-155)