The Seattle Mariners will travel to St. Petersburg, Florida, to face the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field for a three-game series. Game 1 of the series will start at 6:50 PM ET on Monday evening and will air on Bally Sports Sun and Root Sports Northwest.
The Seattle Mariners are in first place in the AL West and have a six-game lead over the Houston Astros for first place in the division. However, they have struggled in their last five games, accumulating a record of 1-4 during that stretch. This includes a 1-2 series loss on the road against one of the worst teams in baseball this season, the Miami Marlins, which ended with a 4-6 loss in Game 3 of the series on Sunday afternoon.
Despite losing the series, the Mariners nearly doubled their runs produced, outscoring the Marlins 15-9, thanks in part to a 9-0 win in Game 2 on Saturday.
The Mariners allowed six runs in the first three innings in Game 3 on Sunday, which included four runs in the bottom of the 1st inning, including a three-run home run to Nick Gordon, which also scored Jesus Sanchez and Jake Burger. Seattle lost three straight games in the series to Tampa Bay and lost by an average margin of 2.67 runs per game during that stretch. The Seattle Mariners will look to end their three-game losing streak in the series against the Tampa Bay Rays when they travel to face the Rays for Game 1.
The Tampa Bay Rays have been a disappointing team to this point of the season. They entered the 2024 MLB season with an over/under win total of 84.5 games. However, they enter the series against the Mariners in fourth place in the AL East with a record of 38-40 and are on pace to win 79 games.
However, the Rays have won back-to-back series following a 2-1 series win on the road against the Pittsburgh Pirates, which ended with a 3-1 victory in Game 3 of the series on Sunday, and have compiled a record of 5-2 during the last week. The Rays were tied with the Pirates heading into the top of the 8th inning. However, they took a 3-1 lead after two runs were scored in the inning, including the game-winning run when Randy Arozarena hit a sacrifice fly ball to score Jose Caballero.
Tampa Bay has won three straight, including six of the last ten against Seattle, and has outscored the Mariners by an average of 6.1 to 4.8 over the previous ten games in the series. The Tampa Bay Rays will look to extend their winning streak to four games when they host the Seattle Mariners for Game 1 of the series on Monday evening.
WagerWeb lists the Tampa Bay Rays as -115 moneyline favorites at home against the Seattle Mariners for Game 1 of the series on Monday evening. Tampa Bay has won six of the last ten by an average margin of 1.8 runs per game, including three straight games in the series against the Mariners while having outscored Seattle by an average of 6.67 to 4 in the previous three matchups.
Seattle is in first place in its division, while Tampa Bay is in fourth place and two games below .500 on the season. However, the Rays have won six of the last ten, including three straight wins in the series against the Mariners by an average margin of 2.67 runs per game. As a result, I am taking the moneyline for the Tampa Bay Rays when they host the Seattle Mariners for Game 1 of the series on Monday.
