The Rays try for a fourth consecutive victory to sweep a brief two-game home series with the Athletics on Wednesday. Off to the best start in its 13-year history, the Rays (15-5) beat the Athletics 8-6 on Tuesday to match the club record for wins in April. Owners of the majors’ best record, the Rays have won 12 of 14 and continue to produce at the plate.

The Athletics hope Dallas Braden (3-0, 2.77 ERA) can cool off the Rays bats and continue his success against the Rays. Braden is 3-1 with a 3.86 ERA in five starts against the Rays, including 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA in three at Tropicana Field. The Athletics need a victory to guarantee a winning month of April for the first time since 2008 and only the second time in the past seven seasons. Read more…

Yesterday the Rays had another great performance as Matt Garza allowed only one run in eight innings against the Orioles Monday night in a 5-1 victory. Only 9,129 fans the smallest crowd in the 19 year history of Camden Yards.

Today’s game will show J. Niemann (0-0) pitching for the Rays and B. Matusz (1-0) for the Orioles. The Rays have won 15 of 22 games in Baltimore, hitting .283 with 26 homers. Matusz has won both of his starts against the Rays, posting a 5.23 ERA with 14 strikeouts in 10 1-3 innings. The Ray’s Niemann went 13-6 with a 3.94 ERA in 31 games last season.

The Orioles haven’t started a season 1-7 since setting a major league record by opening 1988 with a 21-game losing streak. The Orioles have scored only 20 runs through seven games, and just three over the last three contests. Read more…

Just a year removed from Cinderella run through the baseball betting the Tampa Bay Rays fell off the MLB odds map last season. Packed with young talent and tremendous potential the team seemed poised to make the leap to legitimate baseball betting power and shed the Cinderella title.

But it didn’t happen. And while the team did salvage the season and finished with a respectable record of 84-78 it still finished third in the division, 19 games out of first in the MLB odds. This year the team hopes to get back to where it once was and challenge for an AL East title. But it’s much easier said than done considering the talent in that baseball betting division. Read more…