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Rangers vs Rays Series Picks: Odds and Expert Betting Predictions

by Mike Allen - 10/2/2023

Rangers vs Rays series picks Josh Lowe

At this point, it's likely you've already felt that nip in the air a couple of times. Saying farewell to Summer is always hard, but let's be honest. You have to admit that 162 games is a lot!

Don’t get me wrong. It’s been a great year as an Atlanta Braves and Ronald Acuna Jr. fan. The MLB regular season truly is a marathon. It’s now in the rearview, though, and the playoffs are getting started immediately. 

We have four Wild Card matchups on tap. They will be best-of-three series.

In the final game of the season, when the Texas Rangers lost to the Seattle Mariners, they opened the door for the Houston Astros to take the American League West with a win. They did just that.

The Rangers went from having a first-round bye to traveling to Tampa Bay to play a rejuvenated Rays team less than 48 hours later. The betting odds might surprise you for this series. Let's check those out and make a prediction for the winner of this Wild Card Series.

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Betting Odds

Tampa Bay: -160

Texas: +140

These two teams only played each other a total of six games over two series in the regular season. The Rangers took four of those games, though.

I'm not sure if I am buying this betting line, but let's continue to dig. We understand that the Tampa Rays are the better pitching team and may have the best bullpen in the league. If you remember, the Rays got off to a blazing start to the year but cooled around the halfway mark.

After their only losing month of the year in July, they've picked it back up, finishing things off with a record of 34-19 over the last two months of the season.

That is slightly better than the Rangers, who have 30 wins over that span. They had a terrible stretch beginning in late August when they lost eight consecutive games and 16 of 20.

Both teams are very, very good and could win the World Series. So, why are they playing one another in a dangerous 3-game Wildcard Series?

I want to say because of a lack of consistency. However, how can you not have some ebbs and flows over the course of a 162-game regular season? That is how players grow together and get better. It's a shame one of these teams will be out of the postseason in just a few days.

Who, though?

There is more parity in a short series, because anyone can beat anyone on a given day. With that said, a short series tends to favor the team with better pitching. That is especially true if they have a "Big 3" set of starters.

The former is true for Tampa Bay, but the latter not so much. They are incredibly well-balanced on the mound, and the bullpen guys are just as effective as the starters.

With that said, the Rays are a balanced team overall as well. The team ranks second in the AL in several offensive categories to the Rangers. Texas, though, has a pitching staff about 10th best in the American League.

Add that to the fact that the Texas Rangers could be shell-shocked heading into this quick series. With the best lineup in the AL, they were shut out 1-0 in their final game of the season. Do they even have time to compartmentalize that and move on?

We will find out soon enough.

Prediction

Tampa also played in the best division in baseball all year. On paper, the Rays are a better team.

We can complain that the 162-game regular season is too long, but one thing it does give us that other sports don't is a 162-game sample size. We can honestly say, without a shadow of a doubt, that the Tampa Rays are a top-three pitching and hitting team.

I’ll pay the juice for the Rays to win the series.

Pick: Tampa Bay Rays (-160)

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