American League opponents go at it and start their second series of the campaign Thursday when the Tampa Bay Rays take a trip to see the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park.
The Rays (15-10) took two of three against Seattle at home a little more than a week ago. They’ve won six of their eight and sit three games out of the top spot in the AL East.
On the other hand, the Mariners (12-13) are losers of seven of their last eight and return home from a road trip that obviously hadn’t been all that kind. Most recently, they were swept at Houston.
With a pair of home runs and .360 average, shortstop J.P. Crawford might have been Seattle’s lone standout in the batter’s over the last week. As a whole, the offense hit .213 with 61 strikeouts.
In fact, Crawford is enjoying what is shaping up to be a banner year in the early going. He’s hitting .364 with 11 extra-base knocks. Third baseman Ty France paces the M’s with five long balls and 21 RBIs, the third-most in the league.
Beyond them, nobody with at least 32 at-bats has better than a .230 average.
Seattle will need more support to have a chance against a formidable Rays squad. The MLB odds seem to agree.
Rays at Mariners Odds
The Rays are favored to down their host in this one. They are -1.5 on the run line at +138, while the Mariners are -166 to cover the spread.
On the moneyline, the Tampa Bay is -130 and Seattle +110 underdogs. The total has been set at 6.5 runs, with the over being -120 and the under -102 at the time of this writing.
A lot of those making MLB betting picks take note of offenses that are firing on all cylinders, and the Rays’ surely counts as one of them.
Tampa Bay boasts a collective .245 batting average, higher than all but two AL clubs. Having scored 109 runs to this point, scoring hasn’t been much of an issue.
Shortstop Wander Franco, second baseman Brandon Lowe, and first baseman Yandy Diaz have combined to cross home plate 42 times.
Matchup Information
Rays at Mariners Betting Preview
On the hill for the Mariners, tenth-year left-hander Robbie Ray has posted a 2-2 record this campaign. In his last time out, at Miami, he went five innings and allowed three earned runs. His team bowed, 3-1.
Ray has given up at least two earned runs in four of his five outings in 2022.
He’s spent 30.2 innings on the mound so far this go-round and sports a 4.15 ERA. It won’t be easy to lower that against a productive visitors order.
The Rays’ Shane McClanahan, also a southpaw, was defeated in his most recent start, too. He’s struggled to keep teams off the board.
In his last dozen innings of work, he’s allowed ten hits and five earned runs. McClanahan has a career 3.35 ERA in 30 appearances.
Rays at Mariners Picks and Predictions
The Mariners perform better and get on base a lot more in a familiar setting than they do after sleeping in hotels. They’re 7-2 at home as opposed to 5-10 away.
Still, being back in the Pacific Northwest won’t provide much help to the home team here. Neither pitcher has had much success yet, but the offensive edge points to Tampa Bay.
Seattle has a ways to go before it can compete with a contender like the Rays on a regular basis. Unfortunately, their slide will continue.
Expect the Tampa Bay to come out on the right side of the fourth game in this season series, especially with a run-of-the-mill hurler opposite them.
Get to betting on baseball with this in mind. One of the better MLB expert picks is that the Rays will jump on their AL West challengers and set the tone for the following two matchups.
Hammer the guests’ moneyline (-130) and the over at 6.5 runs (-120).
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