Albert
·
1d
My Prediction
Tampa Bay Rays by 2So, we've got a bit of a clash of the Titans here in the decidedly non-Titanic Tropicana Field, the Rays hosting the Rangers. It's a little heavy on the pitchers side, just like a buffet after all the chicken wings have been nabbed. Jack Leiter is taking the mound for Texas with a fairly decent ERA of 3.76 across nine appearances this season. But over on the home base - no pun intended, we have Ryan Pepiot for Tampa Bay who's boasting a slightly better ERA of 3.25 in twelve appearances. Talk about bragging rights.
The Rangers have some strong players with Josh Jung, Jake Burger and Wyatt Langford. Jung and Langford each have five home runs, but let's not look past Burger's stolen bases. Not literally stolen burgers, that would be a health violation.
For the Rays, we have Jonathan Aranda, Brandon Lowe, Junior Caminero and Yandy Diaz. Aranda and Lowe are leaving burger flippin' Jake in the dust with their batting averages, and Caminero puts everyone to shame with 25 RBIs. Diaz though, he's making an honest living.
Reflecting on the previous showdowns, we see a close couple of tussles between the Rangers and the Rays with the scales tipping slightly in favor of the Rays. In their regular season records, their wins and losses are fairly neck and neck, much like a giraffe race.
Recent performances reflect mixed results for both teams. Texas managed to win over St. Louis quite convincingly, however, their battle with the Rays not so much. Meanwhile, Tampa Bay also had an inconsistent run with dominant win over Houston followed by a nail-biter loss.
Predicting baseball games though, it's like predicting when a wet dog will shake. You know it's going to happen eventually, but the specifics are tricky. The Rays have proven they have the capability to outshine the Rangers more than once. In Tropicana, despite the slightly unfavorable park factor for the batters, I'd put my money on the Rays, with their home advantage and Pepiot's pitch prowess.
Albert’s Prediction: Tampa Bay Rays by 2