Yankees vs. Angels Prediction: New York Looks to Close Out the Series Behind Cam Schlittler

The Yankees have already dropped a stinker to a last-place team in this series — now they get one more shot to walk out of Anaheim taking two of three.

Quick take:

• Pick: Yankees moneyline
• Why: Cam Schlittler has been the Yankees’ best starter all year and draws a struggling Angels lineup missing its leadoff hitter
• The number to watch: Schlittler’s 2.09 ERA and 11.05 K/9 against an Angels offense hitting .235 as a team

New York (79-60) sits second in the AL East and is clinging to a healthy wild-card cushion, while Los Angeles (53-86) is buried in last place in the AL West with the worst record in the American League. The Yankees dropped the series opener 10-1 on Monday before bouncing back for a 7-3 win Tuesday, setting up a rubber match Wednesday night at Angel Stadium with first pitch at 9:38 p.m. ET.

New York has won six of its last 10 games and enters having played meaningful, playoff-shaped baseball for weeks now. The Angels, by contrast, are 2-8 over their last 10 and mathematically eliminated, playing out the string in front of a fan base already looking toward next spring.

Why the Market Still Isn’t Fully Buying the Yankees

New York opened as roughly a -164 favorite on the MLB odds boards, with Los Angeles sitting around +138 to +140 depending on the book, and the total set at 7 runs. Given the gap in records and bullpen depth, that number is closer than it looks on paper — a reflection of Monday’s blowout loss and the fact that the Angels have actually won the last two head-to-head meetings before this series started. Bettors backing New York are essentially betting that Schlittler’s stuff and a Yankees lineup that’s raked all series (16 runs in the last two games alone) overwhelms an Angels team that’s simply worn down.

Wednesday, September 2 at 9:39 PM	Spread	Money	Total
New York Yankees	-1.5 (105)	-157	O 7 (102)
Los Angeles Angels	+1.5 (-136)	+147	U 7 (-121)

Recent Form

The form gap between these two teams over the last month tells most of the story before you even get to the head-to-head numbers below.

Showing 10 of last 10 meetings

Schlittler’s Emergence Meets a Lineup Missing Its Spark Plug

Cam Schlittler has quietly turned into one of the better starters in the American League, sitting at 12-6 with a 2.09 ERA, a 0.972 WHIP, and an 11.05 K/9 rate. He’ll face an Angels lineup that just put up 10 runs on the Yankees two days ago, but that outburst came against a bullpen arm, not a frontline starter — Schlittler is a different problem entirely for a team hitting a league-worst-ish .235 as a unit.

Los Angeles is also without Nolan Schanuel, its usual leadoff hitter, who’s been out since Aug. 21 with an intercostal strain and has only just resumed swinging a bat. That leaves more of the offensive burden on Vaughn Grissom, who’s been the one Angel doing real damage in this series — he went 3-for-5 with two doubles and four RBIs in Monday’s win and is riding a strong finish to the season overall. Reid Detmers takes the ball for the Angels off a 4-8 record and a 3.54 ERA, and while his strikeout rate (10.10 K/9) is solid, he’s been the underdog in 20 of his starts this season and the Angels have gone just 5-15 in those games.

The Angels have lost eight of their last 10 games, and their team ERA sits at 4.27 — more than two full runs worse than New York’s league-leading mark.

New York isn’t at full strength either. Aaron Judge remains out with a rib stress fracture and Giancarlo Stanton is done for the year with a calf injury, but the Yankees have kept scoring anyway — this lineup put up seven runs Tuesday without either of its biggest bats, a sign of just how deep the order has become. That depth matters more against a last-place pitching staff than a truly elite one would.

Prediction and Best Bet

The Angels have nothing left to play for except pride, and pride got them one blowout win in this series already. But Schlittler is a tougher matchup than anything Los Angeles has seen from New York’s rotation the last two days, and this Yankees lineup has shown no signs of slowing down even with Judge and Stanton sidelined.

The pick:

1. Prediction: Yankees 6, Angels 3
2. Best Bet: Yankees on the moneyline

Fading New York after one bad loss in a three-game set has been a losing bet all series, and Schlittler on the mound is exactly the spot to trust the favorite again.