Best NRFI and YRFI Bets Today (How to Bet Guardians-Yankees Game 5)
By Josh Yourish
It's our last chance to bet on the first inning in the Divisional round of the Major League Baseball playoffs before the ALCS and NLCS matchups get going on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, so let's make the most of it!
We obviously can’t have a No Run First Inning (NRFI) AND a Yes Run First Inning (YRFI) bet today with just one game on the schedule, so instead I’ll tell you how I'm betting Game 5 of the ALDS between the Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees this evening.
ALDS Game 5 NRFI / YRFI Best Bet Today
Guardians vs. Yankees YRFI
Yep, it’s a YRFI that we’ll be placing tonight for the Guardians and Yankees. Aaron Civale is on the mound for Cleveland and Jameson Taillon starts for New York in the final game of the series.
Civale has yet to pitch in the postseason and hasn’t taken the mound since October 5. That game was the Guardians' fourth straight win in a game with Civale pitching, earning the win in three of those four matchups. He finished the regular season with a 4.92 ERA, but had a 3.87 Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) which indicates he pitched better than he ERA would suggest. The issue for Civale is the first inning, pitching to a 5.40 ERA in the first inning this year. He will be more of an opener in this game, but I’m not sure how suited he is to that role.
Jameson Taillon has had a new role in the postseason, coming out of the bullpen for the first time in his career. Tonight, he returns to start Game 5 after giving up two runs and recording no outs in Game 2.
This could be another low-scoring game, but I think I’ll back the offenses to strike first, before these two teams turn the game over to their bullpens.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change