Written By: The Persian
The Minnesota Twins get set to take on the Tampa Bay Rays in the finale of a four-game set Thursday afternoon inside Tropicana Field from St. Petersburg, Florida. They toss out the first pitch at 1:10 pm for this early afternoon start time. Bookmaker has installed the Twins-130 on the ML.
The Twins have enjoyed a solid season and are within striking distance of the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central. They might be running out of time, though, to catch them. They sit 4 1/2 games back, and if they can stay within reach, the four-game set the two teams play from September 16th to 19th just might decide the division.
Minnesota has won with both pitching and hitting, and they have always been a decent road team over the last several seasons. On offense, they are led by 27-year-old catcher Ryan Jeffers, who has cracked 20 home runs to go along with 59 RBI. The Twins are not much of a power-hitting team, so they typically must scratch and claw their way to scoring runs.
They have a +51 run differential and have also won some close games this season. They will hand the ball over to Pablo Lopez, who has a record of 13-8 and an ERA of 4.05.
It is safe to say the Rays have had a very disappointing season, and they will be on the outside looking in once the playoffs roll around. Last season, they were staked and backed by their starting rotation, which put up some historic numbers for the first half of the season. They were not able to remotely duplicate that type of success this season, and they have given up a ton of runs.
Their offense is not strong enough to support poor outings by their starting staff. They have only hit 127 home runs this season and really lack the power to contend and compete with the likes of the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles. The Rays' pitching staff also has a team ERA of 3.95, and that is not good enough to compete in a very stacked AL East.
Tampa will toss out Taj Bradley, who owns a record of 6-9 and has an ERA of 4.35. He has been roughed up lately, having dropped four out of his last five starts on the mound.
The Rays are 2-3 in their last five games and 4-1 in their last five games against the number. They are also 34-31 in their road games against the spread. The totals have gone over in three out of their last five games. The Twins are 3-2 in their last five games and 1-4 in their last five games against the spread too. They are also 33-36 in their road games against the number. The totals have gone over in just two of their last five games.
