Tampa Bay Rays (39-16) vs. Chicago Cubs (22-30)
The 2023 Major League Baseball season goes on Tuesday, May 30, with the Tampa Bay Rays taking on the Chicago Cubs in the interleague battle at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, and the first pitch is set for 8:05 PM ET.
Tampa Bay and Chicago continue a three-game series, and Monday’s opener has been excluded from the analysis. The Rays are firm -170 moneyline favorites to outlast the Cubs on Tuesday.
The Tampa Bay Rays continue to play at a high level and have won three straight series over the Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays, and Los Angeles Dodgers. Last Sunday, the Rays wrapped up a ten-game homestand with an 11-10 victory to the Dodgers. During that ten-game stretch, the Rays have scored five or more runs on seven occasions.
Tampa Bay boasts the second-highest scoring offense in the majors, tallying 6.09 runs per game. The Rays’ OPS of .847 is the highest in baseball by far, and Tampa leads the MLB in home runs (101) and stolen bases (72). Over the last seven days and 204 at-bats, the Rays are slashing .294/.364/.480 with seven homers, 14 extra-base hits, and a staggering 19 stolen bases.
He really Saac'd this one pic.twitter.com /IyOWPeKFs4
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 28, 2023
Shane McClanahan will be on the bump Tuesday. The 26-year-old left-hander is 8-0 with a stellar 1.97 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, and 75/25 K/BB ratio in 11 starts (64 innings pitched) this season. He’s gone 3-0 through his previous five starts this month, surrendering only six runs on 24 hits and 11 walks across 30 innings of work. Last Wednesday, McClanahan tossed seven frames of a one-run ball in a 7-3 victory to the Blue Jays.
McClanahan ranks in the 82nd percentile in expected batting average and the 71st percentile in expected slugging percentage. His four-seam fastball (42.2% of usage) has a sturdy minus-9 run value and .340 slugging percentage.