The Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees continue their best-of-five AL Division Series Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. at San Diego’s Petco Park (on TBS). Top-seeded Tampa Bay will be the visitors after playing as the home team the first two games. Below, we analyze the Rays-Yankees MLB betting odds and lines, with picks and best bets.
Series: Tied 1-1.
Tuesday: Tampa Bay won 7-5 behind home runs from 4 different players. Rays pitchers struck out 18 for an MLB postseason-record for a 9-inning game. Yankees DH Giancarlo Stanton cranked 2 more homers after hitting a grand slam Monday in New York’s 9-3 win.
Rays vs. Yankees: Projected starting pitchers
RHP Charlie Morton vs. RHP Masahiro Tanaka
Morton went 2-2 with a 4.74 ERA (38 IP, 20 ER) in 9 regular-season starts. He did not pitch in the Rays’ Wild Card Series win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
- Last start: No-decision, 5 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 8 K vs. Philadelphia Phillies Sept. 25 – Rays won 6-4
- 2020 vs. Yankees: 0-0, 2.25 ERA (4 IP, 1 ER) in 2 starts, both just 2 innings
- Career vs. Yankees (regular season): 4-2, 3.83 ERA (51 2/3 IP, 22 ER) in 10 starts
- Career postseason: 4-2, 3.70 ERA (41 1/3 IP, 17 ER) in 8 starts and 1 relief appearance
Tanaka finished the regular season 3-3 with a 3.56 ERA (48 IP, 19 ER) in 10 starts.
- Last start: No-decision, 4 IP, 6 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 3 K at Cleveland Indians in Wild Card Series Game 2 Sept. 30 – Yankees won 10-9
- 2020 vs. Rays: 1-1, 4.20 ERA (15 IP, 7 ER) in 3 starts
- Career vs. Rays (regular season): 11-5, 3.31 ERA (130 1/3 IP, 48 ER) in 21 starts
- Career postseason: 5-3, 2.70 ERA (50 IP, 15 ER) in 9 starts – had a 1.76 ERA before his 2020 outing
Special MLB Postseason Promotion!
Bet $1 on either the New York Yankees 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!
Rays vs. Yankees: Key injuries
(Get the latest injury news here.)
None
Rays vs. Yankees: Odds, lines, picks and betting tips
MLB odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full list. Odds last updated at 7:50 a.m. ET.
Prediction
Rays 7, Yankees 5
Money line (ML)
The RAYS (+105) are the STRONGEST PLAY – 1.5 times your usual wager. Morton is well-rested, last pitching Sept. 25. Tanaka struggled in his last two outings, with 9 earned runs allowed over 8 innings.
Tampa Bay gets the nod thanks to its bullpen, which posted a 3.37 regular-season ERA to rank third in the majors.
Plus, New York batters will likely be in a funk after Tuesday’s 18 strikeouts.
New to sports betting? Every $1 bet on the Rays ML profits $1.05 if they win. Every winning $1.18 bet on the Yankees ML (-118) will profit $1.
Run line/Against the spread (ATS)
AVOID. The Rays (+1.5, -189) are 7-1 vs. the RL in their last 8 games, but the price is too chalky. The Yankees (-1.5, +155) are 5-9 vs. the RL in their last 14.
Over/Under (O/U)
The way these two rivals play longball, the OVER 9 (-121) is worth a small wager – half your usual bet.
The O/U is 2-0 in this series and went 5-5 in their 10 head-to-head, regular-season meetings.
Want some action on this game? Place a bet at BetMGM now. For more sports betting tips and advice, visit SportsbookWire.com.
| Johnny’s 2020 MLB record | 67-45-1 |
| 2020 MLB postseason | 3-8 |
| 2020 overall record (all sports) | 108-75-3 |
| Strongest plays (all sports) | 55-29-1 |
Follow @JohnnyParlay11 on Twitter. 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]