To kick off a three-game American League slate, the Texas Rangers will make their way to the Windy City to square off with the Chicago White Sox. The Southsiders took all but one of their six meetings a season ago, but these two teams are crossing paths for the first time this year.
The Rangers (26-30) are looking to right the ship, having lost six of their last eight outings. With this bill, they’re continuing a six-game AL Central road swing. As of now, Texas is in third place in their own grouping, 9.5 games behind Houston.
Chicago (26-29) hasn’t had the best of luck in front at Guaranteed Rate Field. The White Sox have less wins (12) at home than any AL team but Oakland. Still, they’re not all that far off from division-leading Minnesota.
Shortstop Tim Anderson boasts an impressive .356 batting average. He and first baseman Jose Abreu have been the engine that makes Chicago’s offense go. The latter has a team-leading seven home runs and 23 RBIs.
In 17 games played at home, third baseman Jake Burger is hitting .322 in 59 at-bats. Behind him and Anderson – who’s swinging for a .344 average in the same venue – nobody has better than a .263 mark.
In the last seven days, Burger has driven in half a dozen runs and knocked out three doubles.
Rangers at White Sox Odds
MLB odds have the White Sox favored to defend their diamond here. Chicago is -1.5 on the run line at +158, while the Rangers are -192 to cover the spread.
On the moneyline, the White Sox are -122 and Texas a +104 underdog. The total has been set at nine runs, with the over being -104 and the under -118 at the time of this writing.
Taking into account MLB betting trends, the Rangers haven’t been the strongest team at the plate. They rank 11th in the AL in terms of team batting average at .232. They have been able to lift a good amount of baseballs over the outfield fences, however, as their 70 combined homers are the seventh-most in the major leagues.
Shortstop Corey Seager (11 dingers) and right fielder Adolis Garcia (10) lead Texas in that department. Overall, Garcia paces the crew with 36 RBIs.
At the plate, only first baseman Nathaniel Lowe has better than a .247 batting average as a regular. Second baseman Marcus Semien has shown signs of life swinging the bat, notching a .414 average in 29 plate appearances over the past week. He has five long balls during that span.
Matchup Information
Rangers at White Sox Betting Preview
Right-hander Glenn Otto will start on the hill for the guests. He has a 4.24 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP in eight outings in 2022. The Rangers have emerged victorious the last three times they’ve sent him out to throw, though, including a 3-2 win against Seattle last Saturday.
In that one, he turned in five innings of work, allowing only two hits. He gave out five free passes to the Mariners, which was a third of what he gave up in the month of May as a whole.
For the White Sox, 25-year-old Davis Martin is slated to hurl. He’s only made two starts this year, allowing ten knocks in 10.1 total frames. Chicago has dropped both of those outings.
Rangers at White Sox Picks and Predictions
This isn’t particularly the strongest of pitching matchups. With some batters who were expected early on to be key cogs in the Texas order heating up, combined with the White Sox’ home struggles, things look good for the Rangers.
With these MLB picks today, Texas will take advantage of the situation of facing an inexperienced pitcher and turn it into a win in the first clash of the series. Get to betting on baseball and make some money by going with the underdog Rangers to win the tilt outright.
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