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The Tampa Bay Rays will take on the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night. It's time to continue our MLB odds series and make a Rays-Rangers prediction and pick.
Unsurprisingly, the Rays are in the middle of another successful season. Tampa Bay has earned a 28-20 mark on the year, a record that has them in second place in the hotly contested AL East. Meanwhile, the Rangers haven't quite had the same sort of success. Despite a big offseason, Texas has struggled to begin the year. They're only 23-24 on the season, and third in their division. Both teams have some catching up to do in their respective divisions, so there's plenty at stake in this contest. Let's cut to the chase and get into the pick.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Rays-Rangers MLB odds.
MLB Odds: Rays-Rangers Odds
Tampa Bay Rays: -1.5 (+162)
Texas Rangers: +1.5 (-196)
Over: 7.5 (-115)
Under: 7.5 (-105)
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Why The Rays Could Cover the Spread
The Rays will deploy starting pitcher Ryan Yarbrough in this game. Yarbrough hasn't been spectacular this year, but he's been right around league average in many statistics. Luckily for him, he'll be facing a largely ineffective Rangers offense. Texas currently ranks inside the bottom ten in the league in batting average, slugging percentage, OBP, and OPS. They've been one of the worst offenses in the MLB this season, so there's a good chance that Yarbrough gets a fairly easy game here.
In many cases, home-field advantage is a huge benefit. However, this is not one of them. The Rangers don't gain any offensive advantage when they play in Globe Life Field, as their offensive stats at home and away are nearly identical. The same can't be said for the Rays, who see a significant boost to almost every single major batting statistic when they play on the road. The Rays are also 11-9 against the spread when they play on the road, compared to a losing ATS record when they play at home.
Why The Rangers Could Cover the Spread
It's a huge surprise to see Texas enter this game on the wrong side of the spread. They have almost every advantage in this matchup, but their most notable upper hand comes in the form of starting pitching. Martin Perez will take the mound for the Rangers here, something that has only gone well for Texas this season. Perez is the owner of a stellar 1.60 ERA and a .99 WHIP, two of the best numbers in the league. He's a legitimate early contender for the AL Cy Young Award. Now he'll face a Rays offense that has scored more than two runs in one of their last five contests. This is a great matchup for Perez, and he should put together another dominant performance.
While their offensive numbers on the season don't look particularly good, the Rangers have been on a bit of a hot streak lately. Texas has scored five or more runs in five of their last six contests, including a nine-run explosion against the Rays to open this series. The Rangers are hitting .246 as a team in the month of May, so their hot bats have clearly extended over the span of a month. It's fair to expect them to continue that success in this game.
Final Rays-Rangers Prediction & Pick
This is an easy pick. The Rangers should cover with ease in this game, and it's pretty likely that they just win this game outright. Lock in Texas here.
Final Rays-Rangers Prediction & Pick: Texas Rangers +1.5 (-196)
