Tampa Bay Rays vs New York Yankees Prediction, 8/18/2020 MLB Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Tampa Bay Rays vs New York Yankees

Date: Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Location: Yankee Stadium in Bronx, NY

TV: SUN/YES

Odds/Point Spread: Rays (+123) Yankees (-133)

Yankee Stadium is the venue where Gio Urshela and the New York Yankees (15-6, 1st in AL East) will play the Tampa Bay Rays (14-9, 2nd in AL East) on Tuesday. The Rays open this contest at +123 while the Yankees are coming in at -133. The over/under opens at 8.5. The pitchers expected to start will be Blake Snell and Masahiro Tanaka.

Key Tampa Bay Rays Injuries

8/16/2020 Oliver Drake RP Biceps Expected to be out until at least Aug 24
8/16/2020 Charlie Morton SP Shoulder Expected to be out until at least Aug 22
8/15/2020 Jose Alvarado RP Shoulder Expected to be out until at least Aug 25
8/13/2020 Andrew Kittredge RP Elbow Out for the season
7/21/2020 Colin Poche RP Elbow Out for the season

Key New York Yankees Injuries

8/16/2020 Aroldis Chapman RP Illness Expected to be out until at least Aug 17
8/16/2020 DJ LeMahieu 2B Thumb Expected to be out until at least Aug 26
8/14/2020 Aaron Judge RF Calf Expected to be out until at least Aug 22
8/11/2020 Giancarlo Stanton DH Hamstring Expected to be out until at least Aug 30
8/8/2020 Kyle Higashioka C Oblique Expected to be out until at least Aug 18
8/6/2020 Tommy Kahnle RP Elbow Out for the season
6/28/2020 Luis Severino SP Elbow Out for the season

Useful Pitching Statistics

The Rays have a 14-9 overall record this season. Snell has taken the hill for 519 innings and has accumulated 605 strikeouts during his MLB career. His earned run average is 3.21 (185 earned runs allowed) and he has a career WHIP of 1.239. He has surrendered 425 hits (7.4 hits per nine innings) and has 218 free passes. Snell (39-28 career record) sits with a FIP of 3.44 while going up against 2,143 hitters in the major leagues. The bullpen has an earned run average of 4.23 and they have given up 116 base hits on the year. Teams are hitting .240 against the bullpen and they've struck out 123 hitters and walked 36 batters. As a team, Tampa Bay allows 9.4 hits per nine innings while striking out 9.7 batters per nine innings. They are 16th in the league in team earned run average at 4.28. The Rays pitchers collectively have given up 208 base hits and 95 earned runs. They have allowed 28 home runs this season, ranking them 9th in the league. Tampa Bay as a pitching staff has walked 68 batters and struck out 216. They have walked 3.1 men per 9 innings while striking out 9.7 per 9. They have a team WHIP of 1.38 and their FIP as a unit is 4.01.

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Hitting Statistics

As a team Tampa Bay is hitting .248, good for 11th in the league. The Rays hold a .436 team slugging percentage and an on-base percentage of .340, which is good for 4th in baseball. They rank 15th in MLB with 8.1 hits per game. Brandon Lowe is hitting .338 with an on-base percentage of .404. He has 27 hits this season in 80 at bats with 20 runs batted in. He has a slugging percentage of .738 and an OPS+ of 209. Yandy Díaz is hitting .301 this year and he has an on-base percentage of .433. He has totaled 22 hits and he has driven in 4 men in 73 at bats. His OPS+ is 118 while his slugging percentage is at .329. The Rays have 187 hits, including 47 doubles and 27 home runs. Tampa Bay has walked 102 times so far this season and they have struck out 220 times as a unit. They have left 154 men on base and have a team OPS of .776. They score 5.26 runs per contest and have scored a total of 121 runs this year.

Useful Pitching Statistics

New York has a 15-6 overall mark this year. Tanaka (75-43 career win-loss record) holds a 3.73 ERA and has allowed 8.4 hits per 9 innings. He has a strikeout to walk ratio of 4.72 and he has gone up against 4,150 batters during his career. Thus far in his career, Tanaka has surrendered 945 hits while accumulating 958 punchouts in 1,018 frames. He has surrendered 422 earned runs while earning a WHIP of 1.128 and a FIP of 3.9. The bullpen has an earned run average of 3.53 and they have given up 63 base hits on the year. Teams are hitting .188 against the Yankees bullpen. Their relievers have struck out 87 batters and walked 34 opposing hitters. As a team, New York allows 7.6 hits per nine innings while striking out 9.2 batters per nine innings. They are 12th in the league in team earned run average at 4.07. The Yankees pitchers as a team have surrendered 146 base knocks and 78 earned runs this season. They have given up 26 home runs this year, which ranks 16th in Major League Baseball. New York as a staff has walked 65 hitters and struck out 176 batters. They give up a walk 3.4 times per 9 innings while they strike out 9.2 per 9. Their team WHIP is 1.22 while their FIP as a staff is 4.31.

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Hitting Statistics

As a team, they are batting .266, good for 2nd in the league. The Yankees hold a .481 team slugging percentage and an on-base percentage of .353, which is good for 1st in baseball. They rank 6th in MLB with 8.5 hits per contest. Gio Urshela comes into this matchup batting .269 with an OBP of .359. He has 18 hits this year along with 15 RBI in 67 AB's. He maintains a slugging percentage of .507 with an OPS+ of 136. Luke Voit is hitting .267 this season and he has an OBP of .333. He has collected 16 hits in 60 at bats while driving in 12 runs. He has an OPS+ of 134 and a slugging percentage of .533. The Yankees as a unit have 178 base hits, including 33 doubles and 36 homers. New York has walked 78 times this year and they have struck out on 174 occasions. They have had 140 men left on base and have an OPS of .834. They have scored 5.67 runs per game and totaled 119 runs this season.

Who will win tonight's Rays/Yankees MLB game against the spread?

Guy's Pick: Take the Rays (+123)

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