The Tampa Bay Rays and the Texas Rangers will open their best-of-three Wild Card series on Tuesday. This is the early game for the day of action with a 3 PM ET start time. In this article, we're looking at the whole series. My Rangers vs Rays prediction is that Tampa Bay will be the team that advances in the 2023 MLB playoffs.
Rangers vs Rays: Recent Team News
Neither of these teams should be happy about being in the situation that they are in. Some Wild Card teams are just happy to be in the playoffs. But both Texas and Tampa Bay fans could be thinking about what they squandered this season.
The Rays were huge favorites to win the AL East after an amazing start to the season. That they slowly lost their lead to the Baltimore Orioles is the reason they have to beat Texas, a very dangerous team, in order to advance to the divisional round.
Texas was the frontrunner in the AL West for most of the season. At one point early in the summer, they looked like they might run away with the division. Down the stretch, the team didn't need much but somehow everything that they needed, the Rangers did not get. Their magic number was small for days before the end of the season but the Rangers just never got there.
Rangers vs Rays Series Betting Tips
The oddsmakers have favored the Rays in this best-of-three-game series. That is not surprising. There is not a single series in the Wild Card round where the higher seed is not favored.
Those who are betting on this series need to be aware of a very significant season-long trend. The Rays went +25 on wins-vs-losses at home this season (53-28) while Texas went -1 as a road team this season (40-41). The Rangers need to take two out of three to advance but that's just part of the story. Texas needs to take 2 out of 3 on the road against the team that won the most home games this season (TB and LA tied for 53 home wins). That's a really tough ask for this Rangers team that has to be in a bad spot mentally.
The Rays are favored in the series. But at just -155, they do not look favored enough. Tampa Bay could be put at odds closer to -215 for this series in my opinion. Accordingly, my recommendation is to take the Rays to advance with bet365.
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