The Cleveland Guardians (86-68) will host the Tampa Bay Rays (85-69) on Thursday in the final contests of a three-game set. The first two games of this series went into extra innings with Tampa Bay winning 6-5 on Wednesday and Cleveland winning 2-1 on Thursday.
The Tampa Bay Rays are second in the AL wild-card race, 1.5 games behind Toronto and half a game ahead of Seattle. The Baltimore Orioles are still mathematically alive, trailing the Orioles by 4.5 games, but with seven games left, they need a miracle. Tampa Bay has +1,100 odds to win the AL which is fifth according to BetMGM.
Offensively, the Rays are 19th scoring 4.1 runs per game, 16th with a .241 batting average, and 25th hitting with 134 home runs. Randy Arozarena leads the team with 20 home runs, 88 RBI, and 32 stolen bases.
Tyler Glasnow looked solid in his season debut. pic.twitter.com/1QAyAOY5HY
— MLB (@MLB) September 28, 2022
The Rays' pitching is fourth with a 3.39 ERA. Jeffrey Springs (9-4, 2.56 ERA) will make his 31st appearance and 24th start on Thursday. On the road, he is 5-2 with a 2.88 ERA. The Rays are just 34-40 on the road this season, and for sports bettors they are 23rd with a -$791 moneyline profit in away games according to covers.com