The bats are going to have a tough time on Saturday in The Bronx. 

A pair of excellent lefty All-Stars – The Yankees’ Max Fried and the Cubs’ Matthew Boyd – will be on the mound as both teams play their second-to-last game of the first-half of the 2025 season. 

Yankees fans are more than familiar with Fried’s dominance during his first year in New York. 

The three-time All-Star is on-pace for the best season of his career, posting a 2.27 ERA while striking out 8.4 batters per nine innings. He’s walked just 1.8 per nine innings over his first 19 starts. 

After a couple so-so starts of late, Fried will look to keep himself in the American League Cy Young conversation with a good start heading into the All-Star break.

While the name value isn’t quite as high, Chicago’s starter has been arguably just as good as Fried in 2025. 

After breaking out during a brief stint with the Guardians last season, Boyd is enjoying a career-year at 34 years old, sporting a 2.52 ERA over 103 ⅔ innings. 

While these are two of the best offenses in baseball, both teams have been slightly worse against southpaws in terms of on-base plus slugging this season. 

Some of the best hitters on both teams – namely, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Kyle Tucker and Michael Busch for the Cubs, and Cody Bellinger, Ben Rice and Jazz Chisholm for the Yankees – will have a platoon disadvantage. 

Expect runs to be hard to come by Saturday following Friday’s 11-0 Yankees win that saw Bellinger homer three times against his former team.

The play: Under 8 (-105, BetMGM Sportsbook)

Dylan Svoboda is a versatile writer and analyst across many sports. He’s particularly knowledgeable about the big three — MLB, the NFL and the NBA.