Bombers better bet if they get another big bat

We typically talk about the prime-time ESPN game in our Sunday features. Because the AllStar break begins Monday, the only national TV game Sunday is the Yankees at Indians on TBS at 1:10 p.m. That puts the Bronx Bombers back on our radar.

A shakier series than expected in Baltimore created some distance between the Yankees and Red Sox at the top of the AL East standings. That inspired media buzz about the Yankees possibly building up their arsenal for the stretch run. Do the Yankees need more offense to win the 2018 world championship?

As great as the offense has been this season, they might.

We’ve talked in the past about “road offense” being a great measure for evaluating a team’s true scoring potential. Home ballparks can create illusions. Focusing on road games helps to clean the windshield.

Entering current ongoing series, here were the road runs-per-game averages and road OPS (on-base plus slugging) data for the three top AL contenders:

The Yankees obviously are in the elite. But that only gets you into the playoffs. To win the world title, the Yankees probably do need to make an acquisition that at least gives them a shot to create scoreboard distance from Houston and Boston in October.

If the Yankees do bring in more firepower (and pitching), they may continue to offer betting value through the second half of the season. It’s usually not common for teams this expensive to do so against baseball money lines. But, when a team

loaded with talent has to win in a tight divisional race, the market can have trouble pricing that dynamic properly. Unit profits for bettors thus far in 2018 for the Red Sox and the Yankees confirm that.

Major league players may be taking a break starting Monday. VSiN and New York Post Action won’t! See you Monday to talk about the NFL Super Bowl picture.

Jeff Fogle writes VSiN’s free daily newsletter covering the sports betting markets. Sign up at VSiN.com/newsletter.