Tampa Bay Rays vs New York Yankees Prediction, Preview and Odds - 07/20/2024

Game Time: 1:05 pm ET, Saturday, July 20, 2024

Venue:  Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY

Where to Watch:  MLB Network

DraftKings:  Moneyline odds:  Rays +120, Yankees -142; Over/Under:  8.5 runs

Bet365:  Moneyline odds:  Rays +120, Yankees -142; Over/Under:  8.5 runs

BetMGM:  Moneyline odds:  Rays +120, Yankees -142; Over/Under:  8.5 runs

Tampa Bay Rays:  48-48 (4th place, AL East)

New York Yankees:  58-40 (2nd place, AL East)

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Tampa Bay Rays:  5-5 last 10

New York Yankees:  4-6 last 10

The Rays are entering this series off a win and won their 3-game series against the Cleveland Guardians 2-1 in their last series. They enter this game with a 48-48 record overall and have a road record of 21-21. This is the 2nd game of a 3-game series with the Yankees on Saturday with the series opener of this series still to be played on Friday. Their offense ranks 25th in the MLB with a .681 OPS. Zach Eflin is their starting pitcher on Friday while Taj Bradley is making his start in this game on Saturday. He is 4-4 with a 2.90 ERA this season. His team won 5 of their last 6 games this season with him making an appearance. In his last MLB regular season start, he allowed 0 ER, 0 HR, and 2 BB with 8 Ks on 5 hits through 7 IP against the Cleveland Guardians.

The Yankees are entering this series off a loss and won their 3-game series against the Baltimore Orioles 2-1 in their last series. They enter this game with a 58-40 record overall and have a home record of 25-19. This is the 2nd game of a 3-game series with the Rays on Saturday with the 1st game of this series still to be played on Friday. Their offense ranks 3rd in the MLB with a .755 OPS. Gerrit Cole is their starting pitcher on Friday while Nestor Cortes is making his start in this game on Saturday. He is 4-8 with a 3.67 ERA this season. His team lost their last 4 straight games this season with him making an appearance. In his last MLB regular season start, he allowed 5 earned runs, 1 homer, and 2 BB with 4 strikeouts on 7 hits through 4.1 innings played against the Tampa Bay Rays.

The current betting odds have the Rays listed as an underdog in this game according to Draftkings Sportsbook. The Yankees have looked great in their games this season with their 58-40 record overall which has them in 2nd place of the AL East with one of the best records in the entire MLB. They have also looked good in their road games with their 25-19 road record. Meanwhile, the Rays haven't looked great in their games this season with their 48-48 record overall and they have struggled to stay above .500 this season. They haven't looked that great in their home games either, going 21-21 in those. The Yankees didn't look great going into the All-Star break with their 4-6 record in their last 10 games and their starter in this game has looked shaky lately. They will have Cortes on the mound who is 4-8 with a 3.67 ERA and he has been giving up a lot of runs lately. He gave up 5 earned runs in his last start, only making it a little over 4 innings, and that start was against the Rays who he will be seeing here again. The team hasn't been finding success with him on the mound either since he has racked up 8 losses this season and the team has also lost 4 games in a row with him starting. The Rays have a solid starter on the mound with Bradley in this one and he hasn't been giving up many runs lately. He is 4-4 with a 2.90 ERA and has looked a lot better lately. He gave up no runs in his last start which was against a solid team like the Guardians, and the Rays have won 5 of their last 6 games with Bradley starting too. Bradley has been one of the best starters in their rotation lately so he is going to give the Rays their best chance to steal a game from this series, especially since the Yankees have looked terrible over the last few weeks. The best way to place a bet here is on the Rays to win this game. 

Rays Yankees Prediction:  Our MLB Pick for Saturday, July 20, 2024 (1:05 pm ET start time) is Rays 5 Yankees 2.

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Tampa Bay Rays: 46-47 (-9.95 units) on the moneyline in their last 93 games. 25-54 (-25 units) on the first 5 moneyline in their last 79 games. 13-7 to the under in their last 20 games. 

New York Yankees: 40-32 (+13.20 units) on the runline in their last 72 games. 39-25 (+11.95 units) on the first 5 runline in their last 64 games. 17-9 to the under with their team total in their last 26 games.

Tampa Bay Rays:  R. Lovelady (RP) Out indefinitely - Forearm. J. Waguespack (RP) Out indefinitely - Shoulder. W. Franco (SS) Out indefinitely - Poss. Suspension. J. Springs (RP) Early Aug - Elbow. D. Rasmussen (RP) Mid Aug - Elbow. S. McClanahan (SP) out for season - Elbow.

New York Yankees:  J. Trevino (C) Late July - Quadricep. J. Davis (RP) Late July - Illness. L. Trivino (RP) Late July - Elbow. N. Burdi (RP) Mid June - Hip. G. Stanton (DH) Out indefinitely - Hamstring. A. Rizzo (1B) Out indefinitely - Arm. C. Schmidt (SP) Out indefinitely - Lower Body. C. Poteet (SP) Early July - Tricep. I. Hamilton (RP) Mid July - Back. J. Berti (SS) Out indefinitely - Calf. J. Brubaker (SP) Out indefinitely - Elbow. J. Loaisiga (RP) out for season - Elbow.

“We’ve done some good things. We’ve done some things that aren’t so good. I like the way that we’ve played here the last month. Feel like we’re a better version of ourselves right now." - Kevin Cash after his team’s win against the Guardians in their game on Sunday.

“I think he just misjudged it. Broke hard in, not wanting to get beat in front of him, and obviously it carried enough.” - Aaron Boone after his team’s loss against the Orioles in their game on Sunday.

Y Díaz (R) 1B

B Lowe (L) DH

R Arozarena (R) LF

I Paredes (R) 3B

J Lowe (L) RF

A Rosario (R) 2B

J Siri (R) CF

B Rortvedt (L) C

T Walls (S) SS

B Rice (L) 1B

J Soto (L) RF

A Judge (R) DH

A Verdugo (L) LF

G Torres (R) 2B

A Wells (L) C

A Volpe (R) SS

T Grisham (L) CF

O Cabrera (S) 3B

Batting Average:  Amed Rosario (.308)

Hits:  Yandy Díaz (104)

Home Runs:  Isaac Paredes (15)

RBI:  Isaac Paredes (50)

Stolen Bases:  José Caballero (24)

Wins:  Ryan Pepiot (6)

Saves:  Pete Fairbanks (17)

ERA:  Edwin Uceta (0.71)

Batting Average:  Taylor Trammell (1.000)

Hits:  Aaron Judge (105)

Home Runs:  Aaron Judge (34)

RBI:  Aaron Judge (85)

Stolen Bases:  Anthony Volpe (15)

Wins:  Luis Gil (10)

Saves:  Clay Holmes (21)

ERA:  Jonathan Loáisiga (0.00)

Managers:

Tampa Bay Rays: Kevin Cash (10th season)

New York Yankees: Aaron Boone (7th season)