MLB Baseball Betting: Tampa Bay Rays at Toronto Blue Jays

As of 11 PM Eastern on Monday night, the Toronto Blue Jays are 1/2 game back of the AL East leading Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles are tied with the Oakland A’s 1-1 at this hour while the Jays beat Tampa Bay to open this series earlier on Monday. With the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees idle on Monday here’s how the standings shake out: Baltimore will either lead Toronto by 1 game at the end of play on Monday with a win or the teams will be tied atop the division should the Orioles lose. Boston is currently 3 games out of first place with the Yankees 7.5 games out of first. The Rays are at the bottom of the AL East 18.5 games back and they currently have the worst record in the American League at 45-66.

Tampa Bay will start lefthander Drew Smyly and the Rays have won his last two starts. For the year, Smyly’s numbers are unimpressive–a 5.14 ERA overall with a 1.295 WHIP, and a 5.83 road ERA with a 1.532 WHIP. He’s looked good in his last three starts–an ERA of 2.37 and a 0.947 WHIP with the Jays winning 2 of his last 3 starts. He could have another good game here as the Jays are nothing spectacular against left handed pitching (15-17 YTD).

Toronto will counter with the capable and consistent Marco Estrada. For the year, the Jays have won 11 of Estrada’s 19 starts including 6 of 10 at the Rogers Centre and 2 of his last three. He’s got a 2.92 ERA overall with a 0.989 WHIP, a 2.69 home ERA with a 0.958 WHIP and a 2.84 ERA and a 1.000 WHIP in his last three starts. Toronto may have some minor issues with left handed pitching but the Rays are awful against right handers and have lost a ton of money. Against righties, Tampa Bay is 33-52 -25.2 units. They’ve also had a hard time stepping up in class with a record of 16-36 -23.3 units against opponents with winning records.

The Blue Jays dropped 2 of 3 at Kansas City over the weekend and need to win to keep pace with Baltimore atop the AL East. Tampa has played better in the second half of the year but this is just a bad matchup for them.

BET TORONTO BLUE JAYS -180 OVER TAMPA BAY RAYS