The Arizona Diamondbacks will go on the road to start the week and will be looking to lock up their Wild Card spot but in order to do so, they will have to take down the Bronx Bombers at Yankee Stadium. This game is slated to start at 1:05 p.m. in some matinee baseball!

The Arizona Diamondbacks are in control of their own destiny if they win out, they are in the NL Playoffs as a Wild Card team while the New York Yankees will miss the playoffs for the first time since the 2016 MLB season following a 1-7 loss in game two of this series. The teams have split the first two games in the series with the Diamondbacks winning game two on Sunday by a score of 7-1. Which team will come away with the series win by winning game three on Monday afternoon? Let’s take a look at how these teams have fared this season.

The Diamondbacks have a .5-game lead in the National League Wild Card race with a record of 82-73 and are in control of their own destiny with only seven games to play in the regular season. Arizona has compiled a record of 13-8 in September which includes a 7-1 win in game two of the series against the New York Yankees on Sunday. Three of the runs for the Arizona Diamondbacks came in the 7^th inning which included Tommy Pham and Christian Walker scoring off a base hit from Evan Longoria.

The New York Yankees have had a disappointing season this year and will miss the playoffs for the first time since the 2016 MLB season as they enter this matchup with a record of 78-77. The Yankees have compiled a record of 13-8 in September but are coming off Sunday’s 1-7 loss against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The lone run for New York came in the 9^th inning when Jake Bauers scored after Aaron Judge was walked. 

BookMaker has the Arizona Diamondbacks listed as -120 money line favorites on the road against the New York Yankees on Monday afternoon for game three of the series. Arizona has won seven of the last ten games in the series while winning by an average margin of 1.7 runs per game in those matchups.

Arizona enters this game with the advantage at pitcher on Monday afternoon as the Diamondbacks will send Merrill Kelly to the mound while the Yankees will send Clarke Schmidt to the mound for game three of the series. Kelly is 12-7 this season with a 3.37 ERA while recording 177 strikeouts while Schmidt is 9-9 on the year with an ERA of 4.65 and has recorded 143 strikeouts.

Merrill Kelly is 1-1 with a no-decision in his last three starts this season allowing a total of 9 runs while recording 18 strikeouts in those matchups with his last start coming at home against the San Francisco Giants in which Kelly allowed one run and struck out five in a win.

In his last three starts this season, Clarke Schmidt is 1-1 with a no-decision while allowing a total of 10 runs and recording 10 strikeouts in those starts with his last start coming at home against the Toronto Blue Jays in which Schmidt allowed four runs while recording one strikeout in a loss.

Arizona is the better team this season and has been the better team in the series, winning seven of the last ten games. The Diamondbacks have won by an average margin of 1.7 runs per game over the last ten games in the series. As a result, I am taking the money line for the Arizona Diamondbacks at -120 on BookMaker for this matchup on Monday afternoon.