With a month left in the MLB regular season, some teams are having to reckon with the fact that their playoff hopes are dead. The Cleveland Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays are close to realizing that their dreams are dead. But there’s still much left to play for.
The Rays are a -132 moneyline favorite on DraftKings Sportsbook. The over/under is set at eight runs. Let’s dig into a preview, prediction and best bet for this Rays vs. Guardians game.
Rays vs. Guardians prediction, preview
This is the year that Drew Rasmussen finally gets recognized. And it’s about time people started taking notice.
Though he just misses the qualified pitching mark, Rasmussen has the sixth-lowest ERA amongst big league starters, and the eighth-lowest WHIP. In 25 starts, he’s failed to pitch five innings only five times; three of those were due to injury. Rasmussen has allowed two or fewer earned runs in 19 of his starts. He’s consistently elite, and despite making his first All-Star game this year, still falls short of the flowers he deserves.
His opposite number, Slade Cecconi, has considerably less experience and success. In his first year with the Guardians after an offseason trade from Arizona, Cecconi has a 4.41 ERA in 17 starts. The advanced numbers think he’s lucky it’s that low; according to Baseball Savant, his expected ERA is 5.67. That’s due to the highest average exit velocity in the major leagues. This could be a problem when facing a slugger like Junior Caminero.
There’s a good reason why the Rays are firm favorites on the road. Rasmussen loves to lock down the first five innings, while Cecconi gets knocked around in that same time frame. All of this adds up to significant value on Tampa Bay’s F5 moneyline.
