Betting Overview
If Boston Red Sox fans would have been told a month ago that the AL wild card race would come down to the wire with the Tampa Bay Rays, they would have thought it was crazy. The Tampa Bay Rays have won five straight games while the Boston Red Sox have lost five straight games. That puts the Rays only three games out of the AL wild card lead with an interesting stretch of games coming up. The Red Sox are playing a two-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays just a week after the Blue Jays took three of four from the Red Sox. Then Boston got swept by Tampa to bring the AL wild card gap down to three games. The Rays start a series with the Orioles and the Orioles are playing terrible baseball lately. By the end of the week, the Rays could be in control of the AL wild card race.
The Baltimore Orioles started the season off strong. MLB betting fans in Baltimore were having visions of the playoffs. But by July, the Orioles were out of the AL East race and by the All-Star break Baltimore was pretty much out of the playoffs completely. Baltimore started off with some solid pitching and timely hitting. But it all fell apart quickly and the Orioles are making plans for bass fishing while the AL and NL playoffs begin. Baltimore is getting a good look at its farm system in these last few weeks of the season and trying to find players that can sustain a winning season next year.
Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays and its fans are watching the MLB baseball scores with great interest. But the Rays need to be careful about looking past the Orioles. Wade Davis takes the mound for Tampa and he has been pitching well as of late. He is 2-0 in his last two starts and one of those wins came against the Orioles. But the win over the Orioles was the least impressive of his two recent outings. In that game, he went six and two-thirds innings while giving up three runs on five hits. A week later Davis threw eight strikeouts against the Red Sox. He can make a difference in this game if he can stay consistent and throw strikes.
Baltimore Orioles
Veteran Jeremy Guthrie takes the mound for the Orioles in what could be one of the last starts of his career in Baltimore. He is 7-17 on the season with a 4.29 ERA and the MLB fans in Baltimore do not expect to see Guthrie next season. The Orioles will be looking at offensive talent from the farm system in this game to see how the younger players fare against a pitcher like Wade Davis. Guthrie’s last start against the Rays was on September 4th when he gave up three runs on seven hits in five innings pitched. Those stats are not helpful when your team cannot score runs.
The Bottom Line
The Rays have a lot to play for in this game and the Orioles do not. Baltimore is basically serving up youngsters to see who can hit, and that could mean a pretty lopsided game.
Pick: Tampa Bay Rays
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.