Two teams headed in different directions as of late meet when the Blue Jays and Rays open a quick two-game AL East series Tuesday night in St. Pete. Kevin Gausman, coming off a rough outing last time out, takes his turn for Toronto here against Drew Rasmussen for Tampa Bay. Who do we like for our free baseball betting pick?
MLB Betting Odds
Tuesday’s baseball betting lines opened Toronto and Gausman at around -135 over Tampa and Rasmussen, with an over/under of seven runs. Early betting action then bumped the Blue Jays a nickel to -140.
Blue Jays-Rays MLB Betting Preview
Toronto just took three of four games at home from Detroit over the weekend, winning Sunday’s series finale 4-1. The Blue Jays then enjoyed Monday off. Just before that, Toronto split two games with St. Louis, and just before that, it swept three games in Boston. Going back a bit further, the Blue Jays are 4-0-1 over their last five series and 12-3 over their last 15 games. At 57-45 overall, Toronto trails the Yankees by 12 games in the AL East but also leads the AL wild-card race by three games over second-place Tampa Bay. The Rays, meanwhile, just dropped two of three games at home to Cleveland, losing Sunday’s series rubber match 5-3. Tampa Bay then also had Monday off. Just before that, the Rays lost three of four games at Baltimore, and just before that, they lost two of three at Kansas City. So Tampa is 0-3 over its last three series and 3-7 over its last ten games. At 54-48 overall, the Rays trail New York by a bunch in the divisional race, but they’re also tied with Seattle for the Nos. 2-3 spots in the AL wild-card standings, one game ahead of the fourth-place Indians. Tampa Bay leads the season series with the Blue Jays five games to three.
Tuesday’s Pitching Match-Up
Rasmussen, by our strict standards, is just 2/17 on quality starts this season, although some of that has to do with a short leash. Last Wednesday against the Orioles he gave up three runs – two earned – and six hits through just 4 2/3 innings of a 6-4 Tampa Bay victory. And over his last five starts he’s held opponents to seven ER and 26 hits through 24 1/3 innings. The Rays are 12-5 with Rasmussen this season and 3-0 his last three times out. Over two starts already this season against Toronto Rasmussen allowed two ER and eight hits through 10 1/3 innings. Tampa won both those games. Gausman is 10/20 on quality starts this year but 0 for his last two. Last Wednesday he gave up five runs and eight hits through just 4 2/3 innings of a 6-1 Blue Jays loss to the Cardinals. And just before that he gave up three runs through five frames against the Red Sox, although he was pitching with a huge lead in that 28-5 Toronto romp. The Blue Jays are 9-11 with Gausman this season but only 2-7 his last nine times out. Over two starts already this season against the Rays Gausman allowed three ER and nine hits through nine innings. Toronto split those two games.
Splits With the Sticks
Toronto is batting an ML-best .267 against right-handed pitching this season, with a .329 team OBP and a .442 team slugging percentage. Numbers like those lead us to rank this line-up among the top three in Baseball in this split. Tampa Bay is slashing .236/.305/.378 against right-handed pitching. The Rays have also been held to three runs or less seven times over their last nine games.
The Bullpens
The Tampa bullpen owns a 3.42 ERA this season, along with a 1.19 WHIP. The Blue Jays pen owns a 3.89 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP.
MLB Betting Trends
- The Blue Jays are 23-24 on the road this season and 47-33 against right-handed starters.
- The Rays are 32-20 at home and 43-35 against right-handed starters.
Totals Report
- The overs are 53-48 in Blue Jays games this season.
- The overs are 49-48 in Rays games.
- The overs are 25-24 at Tropicana Field this season.
- The overs are 4-3 in Jays-Rays games this season.
