Subscribe
Follow Us
The Red Sox make the trip to Tampa Bay to face the Rays! Both teams have been inconsistent and hovering around .500 all season in one of the hardest divisions in the MLB, the AL East. Our MLB odds series has our Red Sox-Rays prediction, odds, and pick for Wednesday.
The Red Sox have been solid overall despite being 24-24. They have won two straight heading into this game after winning four straight. Statistically, the Red Sox are solid on offense with their bats in the top half of the MLB. Tyler O'Neill, Triston Casas, Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Rafael Devers are all talented players and have been solid to a varying degree behind the plate so far this season. In comparison, their pitching has been red-hot up to this point and is the second-best staff in the MLB. Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford, Nick Pivetta, and Garrett Whitlock have made up a very good pitching staff with all five varying from good to great overall. The Red Sox have shown their potential this season, but they have struggled to find some consistency and that has been the same across the board up to this point in the season.
The Rays have been inconsistent out of the gate, and currently sit with a 25-24 record, and they have lost two straight, after winning four straight before that. The Rays are average on offense behind the plate and then they are in the bottom half of the MLB in pitching. This play on both sides of the ball is why they have struggled to find any inconsistencies. Isaac Paredes, Amed Rosario, Yandy Diaz, Harold Ramirez, Jose Caballero, and Randy Arozarena have been very good for the Rays offense. On the mound, Zach Eflin, Ryan Pepiot, and Zack Littell have been solid for a unit that has not been the best this season. This will be an interesting matchup within the division because each team is chasing the top two teams and both have had consistency issues.
Here are the MLB Odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB Odds: Red Sox-Rays Odds
Boston Red Sox: -1.5 (+168)
Moneyline: +102
Tampa Bay Rays: +1.5 (-205)
Moneyline: -120
Over: 8 (+100)
Under: 8 (-122)
How to Watch Red Sox vs. Rays
Time: 6:50 pm ET
TV: Bally Sports Sun / NESN
Stream: fuboTV (Click for free trial)
Article Continues Below
Why The Red Sox Will Cover The Spread/Win
The Red Sox are starting Brayan Bello on the mound and he has a 4-2 record, a 3.96 ERA, and a 1.13 WHIP. He has allowed 18 runs on 32 hits with nine walks and 31 strikeouts through 36.1 total innings so far this year. Through the seven games that he has started in this year the Red Sox are 5-2. In his last start, he pitched 4.2 innings and allowed five runs on seven hits with zero walks and four strikeouts in a Red Sox loss. Bello has been solid this season but has not been as good as the rest of the Red Sox pitching staff.
The Red Sox's offense has been solid to start the season. They are 14th in team batting average at .244 after finishing last season with a .258 batting average. The offense is led by Rafael Devers, Tyler O'Neill, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Jarren Duran in most of the offensive categories behind the plate. Devers leads in batting average at .284 and in OBP at .380. O'Neill leads in home runs at 11, Rafaela leads in RBI at 25, and then Duran leads in total hits at 53. The Red Sox have been playing decent offense behind the plate, but they get a tough matchup against Ryan Pepiot on the mound for the Rays.
Why The Rays Will Cover The Spread/Win
The Rays are starting Ryan Pepiot on the mound where he has a 3-2 record, a 3.68 ERA, and a 0.93 WHIP. He is coming back from injury in this game too. He has allowed 15 runs on 23 hits with 11 walks and 41 strikeouts through 36.2 innings. The Rays are also 4-3 in the seven games that he's appeared in, so far this season. In his last full start, he pitched six innings and allowed zero runs on two hits with zero walks and seven strikeouts. Ryan Pepiot has been the best pitcher for the Rays and gets a matchup against an offense that has been good, but should be much better based on the talent level.
The offense for the Rays has been solid this season behind the plate, coming in just outside the top 10 in the MLB. They are 16th in team-batting average at .239 after finishing last season with a .260 batting average. Isaac Paredes leads the way in most batting categories with Yandy Diaz as well. Paredes leads the way in batting average at .303, in home runs at nine, in RBI at 26, and in OBP at .391. Diaz then leads the way in total hits at 50. The Rays and their bats have been inconsistent, especially when compared to last year and Brayan Bello is going to be a difficult matchup for them in this game.
Final Red Sox-Rays Prediction & Pick
The Red Sox have won two straight, while the Rays have lost two straight heading into this game. The Rays have the better pitcher with Pepiot compared to Bello for the Red Sox. The difference in offense is not huge heading into this game either. Expect Pepiot to be the difference for the Rays at home and for them to cover and win outright in this game.
Click here for more betting news and predictions
Final Red Sox-Rays Prediction & Pick: Rays +1.5 (-205)
