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It is an AL East Battle as the New York Yankees host the Tampa Bay Rays. It is now time to continue our MLB odds series with a Rays-Yankees prediction, pick, and how-to-watch.
The Yankees walk into this game after losing two of three to the Orioles and being embarrassed in their last game. The Orioles scored seven runs in the first inning off of Luis Severino. To make matters worse, the Yankees proceeded to strike out 18 times in the game, in one of their worst performances of the year. With the loss, the Yankees dropped to 55-50 on the season, sitting in last place in the division and nine games out of first. Meanwhile, they are 3.5 games back of the Astros in the wild-card race, with the Red Sox in between them and the Astros.
Meanwhile, the Rays took two of three from the Astros over the weekend, but still have won just four of their last ten games. They are 64-44 on the year but that places them 1.5 games back of the Orioles in the division. Still, they have the top wild-card spot, four games ahead of the next wild-card team, the Toronto Blue Jays. It has been a little bit of a disappointing second half of the season so far for the Rays. They are just 6-9 since the All-Star break.
Here are the Yankees-Rays MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB Odds: Rays-Yankees Odds
Tampa Bay Rays: -1.5 (+118)
New York Yankees +1.5 (-142)
Over: 8.5 (-110)
Under: 8.5 (-110)
How To Watch Rays vs. Yankees
TV: BSSUN/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' pitching has been great this year, but right now, they need to find some consistency. In their last four wins, they have given up just six runs in those four games combined. Meanwhile, in their last four losses, the Rays have given up 35 runs. On the season the Rays are third in team ERA, while also sitting third in WHIP and first in opponent batting average. Tyler Glasnow will be on the mound today for the Rays. He is 4-3 on the season with a 3.36 ERA. He has been solid this month as well. Glasnow has pitched 31.1 innings this month, giving up ten runs with only eight being earned. This gives him a 2.30 ERA, but he still has just a 2-2 record on the month as the Rays have struggled on offense in some of his starts.
On the offensive end of things, the Rays are fourth in the majors in runs scored this year, while sitting fifth in slugging, tenth in on base percentage, and 11th in batting average. Randy Arozarena leads the team in RBIs this year with 62, while he has hit 17 home runs. Still, this has been a bad month for him. He is hitting just .160 on the month with two home runs and five RBIs. He has stolen three basses and scored them times though. It may just be a small slump from the home run derby, but the Rays need him to kick back into gear.
Meanwhile, Brandon Lowe is coming off a great series. He went 5-11 in the series, with two home runs, and six RBIs. On the month he now has 11 RBIs with the help of four home runs and five doubles. He is hitting .286 with a .384 on-base percentage. Joining him in driving in a lot of runs as of late is Yandy Diaz, he has driven in a run in four of his last five games and has six RBIs in that time. On the month he has 12 RBIs with the help of two home runs and five doubles. He is also hitting well, hitting .313 on the month with a .390 on-base percentage.
Why The Yankees Could Cover The Spread
The Yankees need to figure out how to score some runs. They are tied for 20th on the season in runs scored, while sitting 26th in on-base percentage, 18th in slugging percentage, and 29th in batting average. Aaron Judge returned to the lineup over the weekend but did not play in blowout. In the two games he did play, he went 3-6 with three walks and a home run. He drove in two runs and also scored two times in those games.
Meanwhile, Isiah Kiner-Falefa drove in three runs over the weekend and now has six RBIs on the month. He is not hitting great, but with 11 walks on the month, his on-base percentage is sitting at .419 while he has a .292 batting average. He had not hit a home run since June 29th though, but he does have three doubles this month. Many guys are struggling to hit home runs right now, but Giancarlo Stanton is still launching some. On the month he is hitting just .207, but he has hit seven home runs which has led to 16 RBIs this month. Stanton has also scored 12 times this month.
Gleyber Torres also is hitting well this month. He has his 15-game hitting streak broken over the weekend, but still has three doubles, a triple, and four home runs this month, all while hitting .286. He also has walked six times this month giving him an OBP of .318. Torres is scoring and driving in runs as well. He has 13 runs scored this month and has 12 RBIs.
On the hill for the Yankees will be Domingo German. In his four starts since throwing his perfect game, he has not been great. He has pitched 22.1 innings, giving up 16 runs with 14 of them being earned. That gives him a 5.64 ERA since then, well above his 4.77 ERA for the season. In the perfect game, German struck out nine batters, and that has kept up. He has struck out nine batters in each of his last three outings. Still, the Yankees have lost each of his last three starts.
Final Rays-Yankees Prediction & Pick
Minus the perfect game by German, the better pitcher on the mound this year has been Tyler Glasnow. He gives the Rays the pitching edge in this one. At the plate, both teams have shown some struggles. Overall, the Rays are the better squad, but the Yankees can always put out a great performance with their power. Both teams need to win this series, but game one goes to the Rays.
Final Rays-Yankees Prediction & Pick: Rays -1.5 (+118)
