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It is an AL East showdown as the Tampa Bay Rays head to the Bronx to face the New York Yankees. It is time to continue our MLB odds series with a Rays-Yankees prediction, pick, and how-to watch.
Tampa Bay still holds the best record in baseball and won the first game of the series just last night. In the process, Josh Lowe hit a two-run home run, while Drew Rasmussen went seven innings of scoreless baseball. The Yankees are not hitting well, but it does not seem to be phasing their hitting coach at all. The Rays and Yankees have now played four games against each other in the season. The Rays have won three of the four, and the one loss has them losing by just one run. The over in these games have also hit in three of the four games so far, each of them being a Rays victory. If the trends continue from the season so far, the play may be easy.
Here are the Rays-Yankees MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB Odds: Rays-Yankees Odds
Tampa Bay Rays: +1.5 (-140)
New York Yankees: -1.5 (+116)
Over: 8 (-120)
Under: 8 (-102)
How To Watch Rays vs. Yankees
TV: BSUN/YES
Stream: MLB.TV
Time: 7:05 PM ET/ 4:05 PM PT
*Watch MLB games LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why The Rays Could Cover The Spread
The Rays' offense has been nothing short of extraordinary this season. They lead the MLB in home runs with 76, as the Rays have been the epitome of power-hitting. Though they've only hit four total in their last ten games played at Yankee Stadium since October 2021, the short porch in right field will allow plenty of opportunities to continue to hit home runs. In the process of hitting diners, they've also been racking up RBIs and maintaining a superb batting average. The top three lineup spots in the Rays' batting order have a combined slugging percentage of .560 so far this season.
Many players on the Rays have also found success in their careers against Gerrit Cole. Brandon Lowe, who is hitting just .186 this season, has hit .227 against Cole in his career. Yandy Diaz has been even better. Diaz is hitting .351 lifetime against Cole, with a home run and five runs batted in. Diaz has a hit in all four games against the Yankees so far this year and is currently on a nine-game hitting streak and a 12-game streak of reaching base safely.
Trevor Kelley will be going out as the opener today. He has only appeared in one game so far this year, pitching two innings against the Blue Jays while giving up two runs. This means the bullpen will need to get to work today. That should be no problem. The Rays bullpen is third in team ERA this year at 3.08 and fourth in WHIP at 1.16.
Why The Yankees Could Cover The Spread
The Yankees sit three games over .500 and find themselves in the basement of the AL East. They are only a game back of the last wild card spot though, which is currently held by Toronto. After sweeping the Athletics, the Yankees dropped game one at home against the Rays. This lineup has to start hitting better. Aaron Judge is back and has hit .273 since his return. All of those hits came in one game though, and it was against the A's. Last night, he was 0-4 with three strikeouts. Judge has hit better against righties than lefties on the year, but with the Rays employing an opener today, it is not a guarantee he will get more than one at-bat against right-handed pitching.
Anthony Volpe also needs to start producing and quickly. He entered the month with a .217 batting average and he has seen that go down. He is hitting just .159 on the month but has stolen three bases. On the other end of the spectrum, Anthony Rizzo is having a great month. He is hitting .333 this month with four runs batted in and six walks. He has not been hitting for much power this month, but that will come as he is making great contact as of right now.
Gerrit Cole will take the mound in this game. On the season Cole is 5-0 with a 2.09 ERA. He has three starts where he has gone over 5 innings and not given up a run, including the nine-inning shutout against Minnesota. In three other starts, he has given up two runs or less. His last start was bad though. He went just five innings and gave up five earned runs against the Rays on Sunday.
Final Rays-Yankees Prediction & Pick
Gerrit Cole will not have two games in a row like he just had. He is one of the best in the league and he rarely gives up so many runs. Still, the Yankees are not scoring. They have only won once against the Rays so far, and it was a one-run game. Still, the Rays would be 33-6 with a +1.5 run line. Of note, FanDuel does have a Pitching Ninja promotion in some markets, meaning if you place it on the Rays +1.5, it is +100 odds. It is hard to go against that.
Final Rays-Yankees Prediction & Pick: Tampa Bay Rays +1.5 (-140)
