Rangers vs Rays Prediction - MLB Picks 10/4/23

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The Texas Rangers will play the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 2 of their AL Wild Card Series on Wednesday afternoon at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Texas won the first game in this series by a score of 4-0 on Tuesday and will be looking for the series win here. 

Rangers Preview

The Texas Rangers picked up a huge 4-0 win in Game 1 of this series and they will look to close out the series in this matchup. Texas recorded nine hits and was able to take advantage of a few Tampa Bay errors in the process. The Rangers got a great outing from Jordan Montgomery, who went seven innings and allowed six hits. The Texas pitching staff had a 4.28 ERA, a 1.27 WHIP, and a .245 opponent batting average during the regular season. The Rangers offense scored 881 runs with a .263 batting average and a .337 on base percentage this year. Corey Seager went 2-4 in Tuesday’s game and drove in one RBI in the win. The projected starting pitcher for Texas is Nathan Eovaldi, who is 12-5 with a 3.63 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP over 144 innings pitched this season.

Rays Preview

The Tampa Bay Rays had a great regular season and fell just short in the AL East race, but they are facing elimination in this game. Tampa Bay really struggled to get going offensively and played very poor defense in their Game 1 loss. The Rays committed four errors and left seven on base in the game. Tampa Bay had Tyler Glasnow start on Tuesday, but he allowed six hits, four runs (three earned), and five walks over five innings of work. The Tampa Bay pitching staff had a 3.86 ERA, a 1.18 WHIP, and a .231 opponent batting average during the season. The Rays offense scored 860 runs with a .260 batting average and a .331 on base percentage this year. Randy Arozarena went 2-4 with a double in the Game 1 loss. The projected starting pitcher for Tampa Bay is Zach Eflin, who is 16-8 with a 3.50 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP over 177.2 innings pitched this year.

Tampa Bay Rays Team Facts

  • The Rays have won each of their last eight games against American League opponents following a home loss.
  • The Rays have failed to cover the run line in each of their last six home games.
  • The Rays have trailed after 5 innings in six of their last nine playoff games as favorites.
  • The Rays have trailed after 7 innings in five of their last six games as home favorites.

Texas Rangers Team Facts

  • The Rangers have won each of their last five games as underdogs against AL East opponents.
  • The Rangers have covered the run line in each of their last eight games against AL East opponents following a win.
  • The Rangers have led after 3 innings in four of their last six playoff games as road underdogs against AL East opponents.
  • The Rangers have led after 5 innings in each of their last eight road games against AL East opponents that held a winning record.
  • The Rangers have led after 7 innings in each of their last five games as road underdogs against AL East opponents.

Tampa Bay Rays Player Prop Facts

  • Randy Arozarena has hit a home run in three of the Rays' last five playoff games as favorites against AL West opponents.
  • Taylor Walls has recorded an RBI in four of his last five appearances against the Rangers at Tropicana Field.
  • Zach Eflin has recorded six or more strikeouts in seven of his last eight appearances with the Rays as home favorites against AL opponents.
  • Josh Lowe has scored at least one run in six of his last seven appearances.
  • Isaac Paredes has recorded at least one total base in each of his last six appearances against AL West opponents.
  • Isaac Paredes has recorded at least one hit in each of his last six appearances against AL West opponents.
  • Yandy Diaz ranks 4th amongst qualified players for Batting Average (.330) this season.

Texas Rangers Player Prop Facts

  • Jonah Heim has hit a home run in four of his last six appearances in day games against AL East teams that held a winning record.
  • Corey Seager has recorded at least one RBI in each of his last four playoff appearances against AL East opponents.
  • Corey Seager has scored at least one run in each of the Rangers' last seven road games against AL East opponents that held a winning record.
  • Corey Seager has recorded two or more total bases in each of his last six appearances in day playoff games.
  • Nathan Eovaldi has recorded four or more strikeouts in each of his last eight appearances in day games.
  • Jonah Heim has recorded at least one hit in each of his last eight road appearances against AL East opponents that held a winning record.
  • Corey Seager ranks 5th amongst qualified players for Batting Average (.327) this season.

Matchup/League Facts

  • The Tampa Bay Rays rank 3rd in the league for batting average this season (.260).
  • The Tampa Bay Rays are one of only 3 teams in the league to rank top 10 in both steals and batting average this season.
  • The Texas Rangers rank 2nd in the league for batting average this season (.263).
  • The Texas Rangers rank 3rd in the league for runs scored this season (881).

Pick

The Rangers went into Game 1 of this series as an underdog, but they were able to pitch a shutout and are now in the drivers seat in the series. Texas has had some issues with their pitching over the last couple of months, but they were perfect on Tuesday and will look to replicate that performance here. Tampa Bay has their backs against the wall and they are going to start Zach Eflin, who has allowed three earned runs or fewer in eight straight starts. Texas is starting Nathan Eovaldi, who has allowed 12 earned runs in his last two starts (8.1 IP). I like the Rays to win this game and even up the series. 

The pick in this article is the opinion of the writer, not a PickDawgz site consensus.

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