Major League Baseball Betting Tips: Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays continue to be worth a look when it comes to their chances of missing the playoffs. Following the weekend of MLB action, the Rays are +1075 to miss the 2023 postseason. My Major League Baseball betting tips following the weekend of action will conclude that this is an acceptable betting line for those looking for a value bet.
The chart below shows what the Tampa Bay Rays have done on the field since the All-Star break concluded. It shows a .481 winning rate over almost the last month of action. Will they maintain this rate? Will they falter worse? Or will they improve on it? The odds on Tampa Bay remain a selling point when it comes to betting against this team. At nearly 11 to 1 to miss the playoffs, you could see how this could work out for a bettor.
- Formerly: 58 – 35 on July 15th, 2023
- Currently: 71 – 49 (overall)
- Recent form: 13 – 14 since July 15th, 2023
- Recent winning rate: .481
At this point in the MLB season, the Rays are in the Wild Card picture. The Baltimore Orioles have opened up a three-game lead in the American League East. That lead looks more likely to be up at five games by this time next week than it does to be a closer race. Baltimore has emerged as the betting favorite to win the AL East, something that took a long time to develop.
Following the weekend, Baltimore is -155 to win the division now. According to my notes, the same firm (bet365) had them at 22 to 1 in the early months of the season. The upcoming weeks will be an exciting time for MLB bettors in Maryland, the state where you are most likely to find Baltimore backers.
Who Could Supplant the Rays?
Could Tampa Bay fall to fourth in the AL Wild Card standings? If they keep playing .481 baseball, then the answer is clearly yes. But lots would still need to go wrong for Tampa Bay.
The belligerents for the AL’s Wild Card spots right now are the Rays, the Houston Astros, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Seattle Mariners, and the Boston Red Sox. The New York Yankees aren’t out of the picture but they are five games back. They have work to do in order to re-enter serious conjecture on the AL’s Wild Card Race.
You could picture the Astros, Blue Jays, and Mariners all overtaking Tampa Bay. The Astros were nine games above .500 after the All-Star break. They are now 17. Meanwhile, Toronto isn’t as hot but they have been better than the Rays for several weeks. Lastly, the Seattle Mariners are a red-hot team in baseball. Only Baltimore has been able to cool off Seattle lately.
Yes, +1075 on Tampa Bay to miss the playoffs is worth it. It’s not just their sluggishness. There are enough teams in pursuit to see Tampa Bay slide.
Major League Baseball Betting Tips: Rays to Miss Playoffs (+1075)
Tampa Bay also lost their ace starter for the rest of the season. Shane McClanahan is 11-2 this season and that’s where he will finish the season. He has an arm injury. His winning percentage will hold up among the best but the former Cy Young candidate’s totals will not hold up.
For those that scoff at the suggestion that TB might miss the playoffs, there’s a simple question to answer. If someone suggested two months ago that Tampa Bay would not win the AL East, would you have scoffed at that? Yes, you would have. And yet here they are chasing down a team once considered long shots.
The Rays should be about +500 to miss the playoffs right now for true odds. +1075 looks like a very reasonable value bet with about 45 games to go for MLB teams this season.
