The Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Rays tee it up for Game 6 of the AL Championship Series Friday at 6:07 p.m. ET at San Diego’s Petco Park. As the No. 1 seed, Tampa Bay will bat last as the home team at the neutral venue. Below, we analyze the Astros-Rays Game 6 MLB betting odds and lines, with picks and best bets.
Best-of-seven series: The Rays lead 3-2 after the Astros staved off elimination with back-to-back, one-run victories.
Astros vs. Rays: Projected starting pitchers
LHP Framber Valdez vs. LHP Blake Snell
Valdez made 10 starts and one relief appearance during the regular season, clocking a 3.57 ERA and 1.12 WHIP along the way. The 26-year-old port-sider has notched a 2.00 ERA over three starts this postseason. Valdez allowed two runs over six frames in the series opener against Tampa Bay.
- Dating back to his last two starts in the regular season, Valdez owns a 1.72 ERA over his last 33 1/3 IP.
- The typical Tampa lineup vs. left-handers leans more to the left than most (41% of PA). That’s a boon for Valdez who has held lefty bats to a minuscule .602 OPS (with a 30% SO rate) over his career.
Snell logged a 3.24 ERA and 1.20 WHIP over 11 regular-season starts. He owns a 2.57 ERA over six career postseason games (4 starts) over 21 IP. Snell allowed 1 ER on 6 H and 2 BB in 5 IP in the first game of this series, which the Rays won 2-1.
- Astros batters own a comfortable, high-walk .942 OPS against the Tampa lefty.
Special MLB Postseason Promotion!
Bet $1 on either the Houston Astros or Tampa Bay Rays money line, win $100 (in free bets) if either team hits a home run during their matchup. Place your legal, online MLB playoff bets in CO, IN, NJ and WV at BetMGM, The King of Sportsbooks!
Terms and conditions apply. Place your bet now!
Astros vs. Rays: Odds, lines, picks and betting tips
MLB odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full list. Odds last updated Thursday at 11 p.m. ET.
Money line (ML)
Over his last seven starts overall, Snell’s walks have been up a tick, and his perhaps flattening fastball has been tagged as part of a few too many crooked-number innings. Houston isn’t a club that terrorizes lefty pitching (.703 OPS regular season), but the Astros do have a solid line against Snell. Houston is also decent against flyball types, and Snell fits that bill.
Valdez’ numbers from the regular season are undersold due to some BABIP and left-on-base leverage that swings the other way. HOUSTON (+115) is a decent play, but it’s worth a line-watch in a hunt for +120.
Run line/Against the spread (ATS)
Astros +1.5 (-189) | Rays -1.5 (+155)
AVOID … but with a slight lean on Houston. A line move toward the -160s would make for some action here.
Over/Under (O/U)
The Under is 5-0 in this ALCS. This tag – Over 7.5 (-121)/Under 7.5 (+100) –is accordingly low, but the signals underlying a possible play are mixed at best. Peg a lean on the Over 7.5 (-121), though. There is some negativity on the Snell side and some tired bullpens feeding the weightier total.
Want some action on this game? Place a bet at BetMGM now. For more sports betting tips and advice, visit SportsbookWire.com. Please gamble responsibly.
Follow SportsbookWire on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.
[lawrence-newsletter]
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1372]