Yankees vs. Red Sox prediction and odds for Friday, Aug. 18 (Trust Boston offense)

The Boston Red Sox are hanging around the AL Wild Card picture, 3.5 games off the pace, and would love to make up some ground by beating their most heated rival, the New York Yankees, over the weekend.

Boston will start Brayan Bello in hopes of getting a series opening win against Yankees right hander Jhony Brito. In a game being lined as a coin flip, can we look to the Red Sox offense to power the team to victory?

Here are the odds:

Yankees vs. Red Sox odds, run line and total

Yankees vs. Red Sox prediction and pick

The Red Sox offense is far superior to the Yankees all season long and in the short term. Over the last 30 days, Boston is hitting at a top 10 clip with a .253 batting average, per MLB.com. Led by Rafael Devers, who is hitting .275 in that time frame, the Red Sox should be able to overpower Brito.

The Yankees right hander has struggled all season, shuffling from Triple-A to the bigs all season, posting a 4.76 ERA with a Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) of 5.51. He has struggled with limiting hard contact as well, allowing nearly two home runs per nine innings.

The Red Sox offense should thrive against Brito, and I will continue to trust Bello, who has emerged as a formidable rotation piece for Boston. He has posted a quality start in 10 of his last 12 starts and will face a Yankees lineup that is bottom 10 in batting average over the last 30 days.

Boston is the better team with the better option on the mound, I'll back the visitors to get the series opening win.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.