Final score: Yankees 0–1 Rays ·Engine pick: Tampa Bay Rays to win ✓ Correct
Graded 2026-10-04 07:00:12 · engine mlb-sim-1.1.
Cyan is the model’s favourite, red the underdog.
Oldest on the left, most recent on the right — hover any result for the opponent and score.
| Yankees | Rays | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 93-68 | 98-64 |
| Win % | .578 | .605 |
| Division | AL East | AL East |
| Division rank | 2nd | 1st |
| Games back | 4.5 | - |
| Last 10 | 5-5 | 5-5 |
| Streak | W1 | L1 |
| Home record | 46-34 | 55-26 |
| Away record | 47-34 | 43-38 |
| Runs scored/gm | 4.59 | 4.54 |
| Runs allowed/gm | 3.73 | 4.01 |
| Run differential | +138 | +86 |
The engine makes Tampa Bay Rays a 52.0% pick to win — the thinnest of leans, barely past a coin flip. Baseball punishes certainty: the best team in the league still loses roughly four nights in ten. It is filed as coin flip, the bottom tier: the inputs point in different directions and the engine is not claiming to know. That is published rather than dressed up.
Yankees come in 6-4 over their last 10, scoring 5.10 and conceding 4.00 runs a game. Rays are 5-5 in their last 10 at 3.80 scored and 3.20 allowed. Yankees arrive in the better shape, though ten games is a short window and form is weighted lightly here.
On the mound it is Gerrit Cole for Yankees against Drew Rasmussen for Rays — the largest single input on this page. One start moves a baseball projection further than a full lineup change would, which is why the engine waits for both probables before scoring a game.
Season run differential reads +138 for Yankees and +86 for Rays. Per game that is 4.59 scored against 3.73 allowed, versus 4.54 and 4.01. Yankees are clearly the better side on the season — and differential is a more honest measure than record, because it survives the luck in one-run games.
Rays are 55-26 at home, Yankees 47-34 on the road. Home advantage in baseball is real but small — historically worth something near 54%, not the lopsided edge it carries elsewhere — so the splits inform this projection without dominating it. The ballpark matters more than the venue: run environment varies more between parks than between lineups.
The projected total is 8.2 runs — a middling run environment. Through the first five innings, before the bullpens take over, it favours Rays at 50%. Model and de-vigged market land within a couple of points of each other, which is a calibration check passed rather than an opportunity found — worth saying plainly.
This pick was published before first pitch and graded against the final score above — right or wrong, it stays on the page.
8th Day Engine · mlb-sim-1.1
Modelled probabilities from a deterministic engine, not betting advice. Every pick is published before the game and graded after it on the accuracy page.