Free Daily Lock Pick: NCAAF: Utah St. vs. Air Force – September 15th – (100% Confidence Release)
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Series don't get much bigger than this one. After Thursday's series opener, the Tampa Bay Rays (91-57; before Friday's results) sat only one game back of the Baltimore Orioles (91-55) for the AL East lead. Whoever wins the division will likely have the American League's best record too. There is so much at stake this weekend. One win at least nets the Orioles this year's head-to-head tiebreaker, and they'll leave the weekend with fewer losses. A sweep suddenly puts the Rays back in the driver's seat. Oriole Park at Camden Yards hasn't hosted baseball like this in quite some time. Yet, this series rages on Saturday night from Charm City's ballpark. The first pitch for game three is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. EDT. Let's see what each team is bringing to the table.
*Published before Friday's game
Thursday's series opener started with Tampa down 1-0 early. Kevin Cash's team immediately responded with three runs before finishing the night with a 4-3 win in hand. That game made the Rays 8-2 in their last 10 before playing on Friday. Even for a team allowing the fewest runs per game, holding Baltimore to only three runs is no easy feat. Tampa's number one, Tyler Glasnow, will have his big-game moment on Saturday. He's had two outings against the Orioles, both at home, with mixed results. In the first, Glasnow got tagged for six runs in only 4.1 innings of work. In the second, he lasted 7.0 innings, surrendering only three runs (two earned). How will he perform with the heightened stakes and a hostile crowd? The world will find out soon enough.
< span data-preserver-spaces="true">Offensively, the Rays are fourth in runs per game, averaging 5.3. They'll try to pump up those numbers against a team that's held them down a bit. Through 10 contests, Tampa only plated 37 runs against the Orioles. Typically, this is a team using power (211 homers; 3rd in MLB) and speed (154 stolen bases; 2nd in MLB) to give opponents headaches. Tampa's walk rate and strikeout rate are not impressive, but the lineup is still top 10 in the three slash line categories. Losing Wander Franco hasn't slowed them down much at the plate. If there's a time to finally break out against the Orioles, it's this weekend.
Free Daily Lock Pick: NCAAF: Utah St. vs. Air Force – September 15th – (100% Confidence Release) Click to see the pick now