Let's visit the vibrant city of St. Petersburg, FL as we delve into this tantalizing matchup between the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.
On the hill for the Sox is Tanner Houck, carrying a so-so ERA of 3.35, a WHIP of 1.18 and decent strikeouts at 8.1 per nine innings pitched. Opposite to him in the Rays' camp, we have Ryan Pepiot, boasting a mildly worse ERA at 3.85 but brings the heat, racking up an impressive 9.5 K/9! Now wouldn't that make Pedro Martinez, a former Red Sox legend, crack a smile? Talk about pitching stats for the regular season!
Take a good look at Boston's lineup: you've got guys like Jarren Duran and Masataka Yoshida who've been solid but not too flashy in the past month. And let's not forget Tyler O'Neill, who, despite a nasty .184 batting average, has really been taking his whacks with 9 homers. Now that's swinging for the fences, literally!
Under Tampa's starry characteristic dome, Yandy Diaz and Jonny Deluca have been pacing the offense with three homers each in the last month. Jose Caballero hasn't been setting the world on fire with that batting average, but he's been terrorizing opposing catchers with 9 stolen bases. Now, that's some deception right there!
Look back at the duels between these teams as part of our history lesson today. The Rays surged against Boston with an 8-3 win on their home turf most recently and the Sox can’t exactly lick their wounds either, with an even-Steven 75-75 record for the season. The Rays? Well, they are hardly any better with a 73-77 record. As recently as last week, the Sox had a .500 record against the Rays, partly due to their defensive lapses in clutch situations.
Baseball is a funny game. Despite some recent struggles, Rays' better pitching and a couple of their hitters finding the groove definitely seem to tilt the scales. It’s always hard to call, but if my gut, and my various late-night prognostications mean anything, it's slightly in favor of the boys from Florida.
Albert’s Prediction: Tampa Bay Rays by 2