The best rivalry in baseball is Red Sox vs. Yankees, but it doesn’t figure to be much of a rivalry this year with the Yankees a powerhouse and the Red Sox one of the AL’s worst teams. They open a series at Yankee Stadium on Friday with the Yanks as heavy favorites on the MLB odds.

Red Sox vs Yankees – MLB Odds & Picks

• When: Friday, 7 PM ET
• Where: Yankee Stadium
• Probable pitchers (away/home): Ryan Weber/Jordan Montgomery
• TV: MLB Network
• Stream/gameday audio: https://www.mlb.com/live-stream-games/
• Opening MLB Lines: Yankees -215, Red Sox +195 (total 11)

The Red Sox looked like maybe the worst team in baseball as they had lost four straight games each by at least three runs entering Wednesday at the Mets and two-time defending NL Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom, but Boston pulled off a 6-5 stunner. Brandon Workman barely eked out a save after giving up two hits and two walks in the ninth. The Mets loaded the bases with no outs, but they scored just once on an infield single from J.D. Davis. Workman struck out Michael Conforto and Yoenis Cespedes before retiring Robinson Cano on a soft liner to end the game.

Christian Vazquez tied last Wednesday’s game at 3-3 with a solo HR in the 7th inning. Since the start of 2019, he ranks in the top 5 among major league catchers in AVG (2nd, .280), doubles (2nd, 27), RBI (T-3rd, 77), hits (3rd, 139), and HR (T-5th, 25).

For Thursday’s series finale at the Mets, the Sox opted not to start third baseman Rafael Devers, first baseman/DH Mitch Moreland and outfielder Jackie Bradley. They are all healthy, just a day of rest and for matchup reasons. Devers has already hit four doubles this season but is batting just .200/.231/.360 overall. Moreland recorded his 200th career double Wednesday. Three of his 5 hits this season have gone for extra bases (2 HR, 1 2B). He is also 20 runs shy of 500 and 63 hits shy of 1,000 for his career.

It’s Ryan Weber (0-1, 14.73) on the mound. Weber makes his second start of the season after allowing six earned runs over 3 2/3 innings in a July 26 loss to the Orioles. Weber has made three career appearances against the Yankees — all in relief — posting a 2.84 ERA over 6 1/3 innings.

In 11 career big-league starts, Weber is 1-5 with a 5.96 ERA (34 ER/51.1 IP). His teams are 4-7 in those games. He has issued only 1.83 BB/9.0 IP in his ML career (24 BB, 118.0 IP). Weber will be making his first career start at Yankee Stadium. His lone appearance came in relief with the Sox on 8/4/19 (4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO).

The Yankees were supposed to play the Phillies four times this week but the coronavirus changed all that. Instead, the Yankees were off Monday and Tuesday and played in Baltimore on Wednesday and Thursday. This will be the Yankees’ home opener, their first home opener vs. Boston since 2013.

Last year, New York went 30-7 (.811) vs. the AL East at home, their most home wins vs. the division in the Divisional Era (since 1969). After dropping their first series (1-2 vs. Baltimore, 3/28-31), the Yankees won their final 11 series, including six sweeps.

On Wednesday, DJ LeMahieu collected his ninth career leadoff homer, seventh as a Yankee and first of the season (first since 8/25/19 at Los Angeles-NL). He hit six leadoff HR in 2019, most by a Yankee since Alfonso Soriano’s club-record 13 leadoff HRs in 2003. LeMahieu also tied his career high with four hits in the game (15th time) his most since 9/14/19 at Toronto.

Since the start of 2018, Yankees batters have collected a Major League-high 82 games with at least 3HR (next: Los Angeles-NL, 69 and Minnesota, 66). Of their 82 games with at least 3HR, 39 have come vs. the AL East.

Lefty Jordan Montgomery will be recalled to make his season debut on the mound. He was a camp standout this spring and summer, appearing all the way back from Tommy John surgery. Montgomery combined in five total spring training appearances (two starts) to go 1-1 with a 2.81 ERA (16.0IP, 5ER) and a Major League-high 22K before the shutdown.

The southpaw made only two appearances (one start) in 2019 after missing the first 150 games of the season recovering from “Tommy John” surgery performed on 6/7/18. He had finished sixth in the AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2017, going 9-7 with a 3.88 ERA (155.1IP, 67ER) in 29 starts.

• Red Sox are 1-4 in their last 5 games vs. a left-handed starter.
• Red Sox are 1-4 in their last 5 games as an underdog.
• Yankees are 4-0 in their last 4 during game 1 of a series.
• Yankees are 41-10 in their last 51 home games vs. a right-handed starter.
• Red Sox are 0-4 in the last 4 meetings in New York.
• Red Sox are 1-8 in the last 9 meetings.
• Under is 7-3 in the last 10 meetings in New York.