Tampa Bay Rays vs New York Yankees: Yankees Can Tie Up Series Behind Nestor Cortes

• The Tampa Bay Rays are on a three-game winning streak.
• The New York Yankees are 2-8 over their last ten games.
• The Yankees are 7-4 against the Rays this season.

Rays vs Yankees Odds

Odds in red are the best choice, select them and place your bet now!

Moneyline Analysis

The Tampa Bay Rays will face the New York Yankees for the second game of a three-game series. This is the 12th time these teams will face each other this season, and the Yankees have had the upper hand so far. They lost last night 4–0 but are 7-4 against the Rays this season.

The Rays are having a solid season, but a sweep against the Yankees would be tremendously helpful in their push for a Wild Card spot. Tampa is sitting at 61-53 and tied for the second Wild Card with the Toronto Blue Jays. Their opponents, the Yankees, have been backsliding but still have the second-best record in the AL and the fourth-best in the league. They are 72-44 and have a comfortable ten-game lead over the Blue Jays and Rays in the AL East. However, they have been struggling lately and have only won two of their last ten games. They need to return to their winning ways and head into the Playoffs with momentum.

The Rays won in the first game of this series 4-0. It was a pretty boring game until the ninth inning. Isaac Paredes singled in David Peralta in the fourth inning to open up the scoring, but that was it until Wandy Peralta took the mound for the Yankees. He gave up two earned runs before being pulled. Lou Trivino came in after Peralta. He gave up one earned run before getting the final out of the top of the ninth inning. New York did not have what it took in this game. They had seven hits and opportunities to score, but they could never send people home. The Yankees will look to get their bats going in this game.

The Yankees are favored to win this game and come in with odds of -170. Even though they have been horrendous over the last few weeks, I would pick them to win. Their offense will step up after last night’s embarrassing shutout. In addition, they are sending All-Star Nestor Cortes to the mound. The man affectionately known as “Nasty Nestor” is having a career year and has been the biggest surprise for the Yankees this season. In his first year as a full-time starter, he has put together a 9-3 record in 21 starts. He also has a 2.67 ERA and 1.00 WHIP, both the tenth-lowest in the league.

Cortes will be battling with Jeffrey Springs. Springs has not been a starter the whole season, but he has been solid in his last five starts. He is averaging under five innings a game in this period but has only given up nine earned runs.

The Yankees will be hungry to score after last night and have a dominant pitcher going to the mound in Nestor Cortes. Pick New York on the moneyline.

Over/Under Analysis

The over/under for this game comes in at seven runs. Even though this is pretty low, I would recommend betting on the under. The Yankees bats will score runs, but they will not dominate Tampa’s pitching. On the other side, I expect the Rays’ hitters to struggle a lot against Nestor Cortes and the Yankees’ dominant bullpen.

This will be one of the lower-scoring games of the night, so bet on the under.

Tampa Bay Rays vs New York Yankees Picks

New York Yankees beat Tampa Bay Rays 4-2

Yankees cover the spread, Under 7 runs.

Check out the best betting bonuses and promo codes for MLB, here!

Injury Report

Tampa Bay Rays vs New York Yankees Predictions

There are a few players I would recommend watching out for in this game. For the Rays, I would keep an eye out for Yandy Diaz and Randy Arozarena. Diaz’s value is very high in the age of sabermetrics. The Cuban third baseman leads the Rays in average (.272), on-base percentage (.385), and WAR (2.4). His Cuban counterpart, Randy Arozarena, is also quite valuable to the team, but his value is a little more obvious. Arozarena has missed very few games this season and leads Tampa Bay in home runs (15), RBIs (58), hits (107), and stolen bases (21). The Rays do not create much offense, but I would look to these two to get any scoring going.

On the Yankees side, I would watch out for Aaron Judge. Judge is putting up MVP-like numbers and leads the Yankees in average (.300), home runs (46), RBIs (100), on-base percentage (.397), hits (126), and WAR (7.0). The 30-year-old right fielder is having a career year and leads the MLB with a WAR, home runs, RBIs, and more. He needs to get the Yankees’ scoring going in this game.

Bet on the Yankees’ moneyline, Yankees to cover the spread, and on the under.

How To Watch Ray vs Yankees