<p>After taking the first game of this best-of-five American League divisional-round series Tuesday night, the Yankees shoot for the 2-0 lead Thursday night in the Bronx. Lefty Nestor Cortes takes the pill for the Pinstripes here against Shane Bieber for Cleveland.</p>
<p>Who do we like for our free playoff baseball betting pick?</p>
<h2>MLB Playoff Betting Odds</h2>
<p>The divisional-round baseball betting lines opened New York and Cortes at around -135 over Cleveland and Bieber, with an over/under of six runs. Early betting action then bumped the Yankees to -140 and the total to 6.5.</p>
<h2>Guardians-Yankees Game 2 Betting Preview</h2>
<p>New York won the opener of this series Tuesday night 4-1. The Yankees took the lead for good with a run in the bottom of the fifth, then got an insurance two-run homer from Anthony Rizzo to back up a quality outing from starter Gerrit Cole and 2 2/3 clean innings from the bullpen.</p>
<p>New York won Tuesday as a -185 favorite on the dime line and covered against the run line at a price of +110.</p>
<p>Also, Game 1 played under a total of seven runs.</p>
<p>The Yankees hadn’t played a meaningful game for a while, considering it was locked into its playoff seeding with about a week left in the regular season. And sometimes, that’s not a good thing heading into an opening playoff series. But it didn’t seem to bother New York Tuesday night.</p>
<p>Cleveland, meanwhile, played its ass off to finish the season, winning 24 of its last 30 games. The Indians then swept Tampa Bay in two games in a wild-card series. So even with Tuesday’s loss, the Guardians are 26-7 their last 33 times out.</p>
<p>New York finished seven games ahead of Cleveland in the regular-season standings and took the season series from the Guardians five games to one.</p>
<h2>Game 2 Pitching Match-Up</h2>
<p><a class="advblue" href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/pitcherlog/191326&quot; title="Nestor Cortes Pitching Game Stats">Cortes</a> hit 13/28 on quality starts this season and finished rather nicely. Last Saturday, he held the Orioles scoreless on one hit through 7 1/3 innings, with two walks and 12 strikeouts, in an 8-0 New York victory. And over his last four starts, he allowed just two runs and ten hits through 23 1/3 innings, with eight walks against 28 whiffs.</p>
<p>The Yankees played 19-9 with Cortes this season, 5-1 over his last six starts.</p>
<p>Over two starts against Cleveland this season, Cortes allowed three runs and four hits through 12 1/3 innings, with two walks and 14 K’s. The Yanks won both of those games.</p>
<p><a class="advblue" href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/pitcherlog/208502&quot; title="Shane Bieber Pitching Game Logs">Bieber</a> hit 20/31 on quality starts this year, then posted another one last Friday in the wild-card round when he held the Rays to one run and three hits through 7 1/3 innings of a 2-1 Guardians win. So over his last seven starts, just once did he give up more than two runs.</p>
<p>Cleveland played 21-11 with Bieber this season, 6-1 his last seven times out.</p>
<p>In his last start against the Yankees, back in April of last season, Bieber allowed two runs and four hits through seven frames, although the Indians lost that game 2-1.</p>
<h2>Splits With the Sticks</h2>
<p>Cleveland batted .239 against left-handed pitching this season, with a .303 team OBP and a .343 team slugging percentage. This line-up has also scored a total of four runs through three games this postseason.</p>
<p>New York slashed .241/.323/.422 against right-handed pitching this season.</p>
<h2>The Bullpens</h2>
<p>The Yankees bullpen posted a 2.97 ERA this season, which ranked third-best in Baseball, along with a 1.19 WHIP and a 2.46 K/BB ratio.</p>
<p>The Guardians pen put up a 3.05 ERA, a 1.11 WHIP, and a 3.08 K/BB ratio. Numbers like those lead us to rank this unit among the top five Bullpens in Baseball.<br />
<section></p>
<ul>
<li>
<span style="font-size:16px; color:#008000;">Get more details:</span> <a href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/matchup/1774811">Cleveland at NY Yankees Game 2 Betting Stats</a>
</li>
</ul>
<p></section></p>
<h2>MLB Betting Trends</h2>
<ul>
<li>Cleveland played 46-35 on the road this season and 28-17 against left-handed starters.</li>
<li>New York played 57-24 at home and 73-48 against right-handed starters.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Totals Report</h2>
<ul>
<li>The totals split 78-78 in Guardians games this season.</li>
<li>The Unders played 81-77 in Yankees games.</li>
<li>The Overs played 41-37 at Yankees Stadium this season.</li>
</ul>