Tampa Bay Rays vs Texas Rangers Prediction 10-4-23 MLB Picks

The Texas Rangers and the Tampa Bay Rays meet Wednesday in MLB action from Tropicana Field. This will be the second installment in a best-of-three Wild Card playoffs series. In the Tuesday opener, the Rangers secured a shutout win. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place. 

Texas Rangers 

The Rangers entered the playoffs on a bit of a skid, losing three of four to the Mariners in their final regular-season series. On Tuesday in the Wild Card opener against the Rays, Texas posted nine team hits and two runs in the sixth inning on the way to a 4-0 shutout win. Evan Carter had two hits and a walk in the victory, and Corey Seager posted two hits, one RBI and a run. 

For the starting pitcher job in game two, the Rangers will send out Nathan Eovaldi. This year in his 25 starts Eovaldi went 12-5 with a 3.63 ERA and 132 Ks in 144.0 innings. Eovaldi is 4-3 with a 3.14 ERA in 11 career postseason games (six starts). 

Texas Rangers Team Facts

The Rangers have lost each of their last nine day games following a road win.
The Rangers have covered the run line each of their last eight games against AL East opponents that held a winning record.
The Rangers have led after 7 innings in each of their last 10 games against AL East opponents.
The 'Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs' market has hit in each of the Rangers' last six games as underdogs.
The Rangers have led after 3 innings in each of their last five day games against AL East opponents.

Tampa Bay Rays

Over on the Rays’ side, they ended the regular season with victories in two of three during a weekend series versus the rival Blue Jays. On Tuesday in Game 1, Tampa Bay had four errors and couldn’t get anything going at the plate. Randy Arozarena and Taylor Walls each had two of the team’s six hits. 

Zach Eflin will take the mound for the game two start for Tampa Bay. This regular season Eflin managed to go 16-8 with a 3.50 ERA in 31 starts. Over his postseason career Eflin has a 3.38 ERA without a decision in 10 total games. 

Tampa Bay Rays Team Facts

The Rays have won 17 of their last 18 games against American League opponents following a home loss.
The Rays have failed to cover the run line in each of their last six games at Tropicana Field.
The Rays have trailed after 7 innings in five of their last six games as home favorites against American League opponents.
The 'Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs' market has hit in each of the last three games between the Rangers and Rays.
The Rays have trailed after 3 innings in six of their last nine playoff games as favorites against AL West opponents.

Matchup/League Facts

The Tampa Bay Rays rank 2nd in the league for opponent batting average this season (.231).
The Tampa Bay Rays rank 2nd in the league for hits allowed this season (1258).
The Texas Rangers rank 2nd in the league for hits this season (1470).
The Texas Rangers rank 2nd in the league for doubles this season (326).

ANDREW’S FREE PICK 

I’ll probably stick with Tampa Bay in this one. The Rays looked listless in a lot of ways during the opener however, and they’re going to need a good bounce-back effort from the whole team in order to take the Game 2 win. Eflin has been pitching pretty well over his last few starts. In his most recent trio, Eflin is 2-0 with six earned runs on 12 hits and one walk. With 12 Ks in 10.2 career postseason innings (and 22 Ks in his last 17.0 innings overall), Eflin should be able to start things out pretty well. In Tuesday’s game one, the Rays got a shaky start from Tyler Glasnow (5.0 innings; six hits; five walks; three earned) but it didn’t matter since the team did next to nothing on offense. The Rays only got two hits and one walk from players not named Arozarena or Walls. The good news is that the bullpen had a nice outing, and Tampa had a run of seven straight games with four or more runs heading into Tuesday’s loss. I like the Rays to find their mojo and even it up here.