Tampa Bay Rays vs New York Yankees 5/18/19 MLB Odds, Preview, and Prediction

The Tampa Bay Rays head to Yankee Stadium to start a three-game set with the New York Yankees in Friday MLB action.

Ryne Stanek will open on top of the mound for the Rays who are expected to employ the opener strategy for the second straight game. Stanek has pitched in 18 games with 11 starts. He has a record of 0-1 with an ERA of 2.45 and a WHIP of 1.00. Tampa Bay is 6-4 in Stanek’s last 10 starts.

In a total of 22.0 innings pitched, Stanek has allowed 6 earned runs on 16 hits with 2 home runs along with six walks and 22 strikeouts. In his last outing, Stanek just threw 13 pitches in 1.0 inning during the Rays’ 1-0 win over the Miami Marlins last 5/15/19/

Avisail Garcia leads Tampa Bay with a .296 batting average while 3rd baseman Yandy Diaz has a team-high 9 home runs and a total of 22 RBIs. Austin Meadows also has 22 RBIs to go along with his 8 home runs on the season. As a team, Tampa Bay is batting at at a .254 clip while scoring a total of 185 runs this season.

38-year old CC Sabathia will get the start for the Yankees on Friday. The left-hander from Vallejo, California has started in a total of six games this season. Sabathia has a record of 2-1 with an ERA of 3.26, WHIP of 1.19 and a BAA of .205. The Yankees are 4-2 in Sabathia’s six starts this season.

Sabathia has pitched in a total of 30.1 innings and has given up 13 runs (11 earned) on 23 hits with 8 home runs while walking 13 batters and fanning 23 others. In his last outing last May 11th against the Rays, Sabathia allowed 2 earned runs in five hits with two home runs. He did not get the decision as the Yankees lost 2-7.

DJ LeMahieu leads the injury-plagued Yankees with a batting average of .322. Meanwhile, Gary Sanchez has drilled a total of 12 long bombs to lead New York while Luke Voit is the team leader with 32 RBIs on the season. As a team, the Yankees are batting at .251 and have scored a total of 208 runs.

Who Wins?

Tampa Bay is 6-4 SU in their last 10 games played. The Rays are 3-1 SU in their last four road games played. New York is 8-2 SU in their last 10 games played. The Yankees are 6-1 SU in their last seven home games played. Head to head, the Yankees are 6-4 SU in their last 10 games against the Rays. New York is also 6-4 SU in their last 10 home games against Tampa Bay.

The Rays are 8-22 SU in their last 30 games played at Yankee Stadium and are 26-53 SU in their last 79 road games against an opponent with a home winning record of .600. The Rays are 14-5 SU in their last 19 games on the road. On the other and, the Yankees are 15-9 SU in their last 24 home games played, 4-0 SU in their last four Friday games and 6-0 SU in their last six games after allowing two or more runs in their previous game. The Yankees lead the season series 2-1 after winning the first set of three games played in Tampa Bay.

The odds for this game aren’t out yet but Tampa Bay is 21-13 SU as baseball betting favorites and 5-2 SU as betting underdogs. Meanwhile, the Yankees are 23-11 SU as favorites and only 3-5 SU as underdogs.

The Yankees have been ravaged by injuries but they have kept winning because they have gotten surprise contributions especially on offense. This game is also played at home where the depleted Yankees have played better. New York has been on a roll as of late and while Sabathia hasn’t been as exquisite, he’s been very steady. Tampa Bay has struggled at Yankee Stadium in recent history and I think that continues here in Game 1. I’m picking the New York Yankees to beat the Tampa Bay Rays on 5/17/19.

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Other Bet To Make

The under is 5-4-1 in Tampa Bay’s last 10 games played. The total has gone under in each of the last four games played by the Rays. The under is also 5-4-1 in the Yankees’ last 10 games played. New York has seen the total go under in five out of their last seven home games played. Head to head, the over is 5-4-1 in the last 10 meetings between the Rays and Yankees.

The over is 11-3 in the Yankees’ last 14 Friday games but these teams have gone under in each of their last seven meetings at Yankee Stadium. I trust that CC Sabathia is going to find his stuff at home and keep the Rays under control. Meanwhile, the Rays’ pitching staff has allowed two or fewer runs in three out of their last four games. I think this will be a low-scoring game. Prediction: Under

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