Rays vs. Yankees: Picks, predictions, how to watch Wednesday’s game

The Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees square off on Wednesday with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m.EST. The game takes place at Yankee Stadium and will only be available on local TV or through an MLB.tv subscription. Shane McClanahan will be tossing for the Rays, while the Yanks will send Nestor Cortes to the bump.

In 2022, Tampa Bay has not been the same team we’re used to seeing over the last few years. They’re still a good team, but they’re struggling to keep pace in the AL East, sitting 10 games behind the Yankees. They’ve lost three of their last four overall games too, but McClanahan on the hill should give bettors more confidence in the Rays than usual. The USF alum is a legitimate ace and is a Cy Young contender and has been great against NY this season, going six frames, allowing just one run and striking out nine. He boasts an overall ERA of just 1.87 and hasn’t earned a loss since April 30.

The Yankees are the best team in baseball by a slim margin and the best team in the American League by a much wider margin. They’ve won 22 of their last 30 games and come into this one on a five-game win streak, which is short by their standards this season. Over those five games, they’ve allowed just 12 runs to be scored against them, while they’ve lit up the scoreboard for 40 runs. Cortes is a top-tier pitcher too, throwing eight innings and allowing just four hits and one run in his only appearance against the Rays this season.

Rays vs. Yankees

Pitchers: Shane McClanahan vs. Nestor Cortes
First pitch: 7:05 p.m.
Rays local broadcast: Bally Sports SUN
Yankees local broadcast: YES Network
Live stream: MLB.tv (subscription)

Odds, picks & predictions

Point spread: Yankees -.15
Run total: 7
Moneyline odds: Yankees -145, Rays +125

Moneyline pick: Yankees -145

With McClanahan on the hill, you’d probably want to pick the Rays nine times out of 10. This is the lone instance where it’s probably not smart to. It’ll no doubt be a low-scoring game, but even a Cy Young contender is going to have a tough time with the buzzsaw that is the New York Yankees right now.

Player prop pick: Shane McClanahan under 6.5 strikeouts (+105)

In McClanahan’s first outing against the Yankees, he struck out seven hitters. He’s only struck out fewer than seven batters one time this season, which was all the way back in early May. Still, the Yankees don’t strike out a ton and those 40 runs over the last five games clearly mean the team is seeing the ball at an extremely high level. It’ll be tough to whiff seven hitters who are swinging the bat with that sort of confidence at the moment.

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