The Tampa Bay Rays will host the Miami Marlins for the back-half of a two-game series they started with a win on Tuesday.
Wednesday’s game will begin at 6:40 p.m. ET inside Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Marlins at Rays Stats
Tampa Bay Rays Stats
The Tampa Bay Rays have gone 25-17 this season, good for second place in the American League East and 4.5 games behind the league-leading New York Yankees.
Despite their impressive record, however, they have mostly alternated between win and loss recently as they have been unable to establish any sort of streak of results, whether they be positive or negative. Their win yesterday was a combination of six scoreless innings from starter Shane McClanahan and three home runs, one of which was a rare inside-the-park homer.
Wander Franco has been in a horrific downswing while Randy Arozarena has been trending up. This has led both to essentially cancel each other out.
Yandy Diaz has been the most consistent batter in the lineup, while Kevin Kiermaier has handled the slugging responsibilities; Tampa is far from an explosive offensive unit, but it converts its opportunities and is more efficient than most of its opponents.
Drew Rasmussen (4-1, 2.33 ERA) will get the starting nod for a team deep with pitchers after dishing five scoreless innings against the Detroit Tigers in his most recent start. If he can continue producing as he has, it will justify why Tampa Bay is one of the most popular MLB picks today.
Miami Marlins Stats
The Marlins are a mediocre team with an 18-23 record that has lost four of five games, putting them fourth in a National League East division that has been utterly dominated by the New York Mets.
They lack quality both in the bullpen and at the plate, both of which have spelled their doom at different points in the season. Despite all of this, MLB betting trends actually somewhat favor the Marlins, who are the 12th-best in the league on the runline this season.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. has been the team’s catalyst at the plate, hitting .290 with seven home runs to boot— Jorge Soler is one better for a team-high eight homers, although he is barely hitting over .200. Miami ranks in the bottom half of the league in blasts over the wall but is 12th in batting average and is unpredictable, making them a tough betting prospect both for critics and proponents.
Cody Poteet (0-0, 0.78 ERA) will make his 11th appearance but only his second start of the season. Poteet is just a second-year big-leaguer, but he will have a large responsibility of playing Rasmussen to a draw, if not outperforming him.
Matchup Information
Marlins at Rays Betting Trends
The Marlins covered the runline as underdogs, which is their comfort zone, in four of their last seven games. They are not an exceptionally powerful team in any area, but they do have a spread of talent that can hit or miss the mark at any given time.
The Rays, meanwhile, are right in the middle of the league at 15th against the spread but are used to operating as the favorite more times than not. They have covered the spread five times in their last eight games, and all three times they did not were in losing efforts.
MLB odds have the Rays heavily favored on the moneyline but with positive odds on the runline for any risk-taking bettors.
Marlins at Rays Betting Predictions
The Rays are the clear better team, and in cases where it is not obvious what is going to come from the inferior team, it is always smart to side with the favorites. The fact that Tampa Bay has positive odds on the runline is just the cherry on top.
Miami is asking a lot of a usual non-starter and does not have a dominant offensive force to match the Rays, who can score with relative ease.
Conclusion
Both teams have similar makeups in the betting market, so betting on the team with the better talent and overall play is the smartest idea.
Trust the Tampa Bay Rays to come out on the winning side of their match with the Miami Marlins.
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