Live stream Atlanta Braves at Tampa Bay Rays, baseball’s top 2 teams (7/9/23): time, odds

The Atlanta Braves and Tampa Bay Rays, which have Major League Baseball’s best and second-best records, will meet Sunday afternoon in their final game before the All Star break.

MLB Network will carry the 1:40 p.m. EDT game from Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, and you can live stream it on fubo TV (FREE trial) and DirecTV Stream.

The Braves own baseball’s best record at 60-28, a .682 winning percentage and a run differential at +153. They are 9-1 in their last 10 and have won 20 of their last 22 games.

They lead the National League East by 9.5 games over second-place Miami. Can they keep this winning up? If so, they will set a number of records by the end of the season.

Sean Murphy homered for the third straight game, in a 6-1 win over the Rays on Saturday, which came on the heels of a 2-1 win on Friday night. The Braves have homered in every outing since June 11, the longest active streak in the majors. They also had a 25-game streak in 1998 and lead the majors with 168 homers — that is also a record for a team before the All-Star break.

For much of the first two months, Tampa Bay (57-35) looked like a team that was going to run away and hide. At their best, on June 16, they were 50-22. Since then, they have gone 7-13, and their lead in the AL East has shrunk to 2 games over the Baltimore Orioles.

Wander Franco has 11 home runs, 30 walks and 45 RBI while hitting .282 for the Rays. Yandy Diaz is 12-for-35 with two doubles and an RBI over the last 10 games. Still, they are not hitting like they were in April, May and most of June.

Matt Olson has 16 doubles, two triples, 29 home runs and 71 RBI while hitting .254 for the Braves. Ronald Acuna Jr. is 15-for-38 with two doubles and four home runs over the past 10 games.

Bryce Elder (7-1, 2.45 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 80 strikeouts) is expected to start for the Braves against former Phillies starter Zach Eflin (9-4, 3.24 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 100 strikeouts)

As for the Fanduel Sportsbook MLB line: Rays -120, Braves +100; over/under is 8 1/2 runs