New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays odds, picks and predictions

The New York Yankees (52-35) and Tampa Bay Rays (52-35) tussle in the Monday opener of a 4-game AL East series in Tampa, Florida. The first pitch from Tropicana Field will be at 6:40 p.m. ET. Let's analyze MLB odds around the Yankees vs. Rays odds and make our expert MLB picks and predictions for the best bets.

Season series: Rays lead 4-1

At the end of play on June 24, the Yankees were up 3 games over the Rays in the chase for the AL East flag. Since then, the Yanks have gone 1-9 while the Rays have gone 8-2 and New York now trails Tampa by 4 games. That skid includes New York dropping 2 of 3 to the Minnesota Twins over the weekend. Across Saturday and Sunday setbacks at Yankee Stadium, the Yanks were outscored 17-5.

Tampa won 9 straight games from June 24 to Friday. The club's win streak was snapped on the July 4 holiday; the Rays suffered losses Saturday (10-8) and Sunday (2-0) at the Houston Astros. They are now back at Tropicana Field where they have won 4 straight games and 10 of their last 13.

Yankees at Rays projected starters

RHP Cam Schlittler vs. RHP Griffin Jax

Schlittler (8-5, 2.08 ERA) is making his 19th start. He owns a 0.96 WHIP, 1.8 BB/9 and 10.6 K/9 in 104 innings.

• Last start: Loss, 4 IP, 6 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 5 K in 9-3 loss vs. Detroit Tigers Tuesday
• Career vs. Rays (regular season): 0-2, 3.38 ERA (16 IP, 6 ER), 15 H, 7 BB, 21 K in 3 starts
• Has gone 6 innings-plus in just 2 of his last 6 starts

Jax (4-5, 3.45 ERA) is making his 13th start and 24th appearances. He has a 1.27 WHIP, 3.0 BB/9 and 8.7 K/9 in 60 innings.

• Last start: Win, 6 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 5 K in 10-4 win at Kansas City Royals Tuesday
• Career vs. Yankees (regular season): 0-0, 0.00 ERA (1 1/3 IP, 0 ER), 0 H, 1 BB, 3 K in 2 games
• Has registered a 1.73 ERA over his last 26 IP

Yankees at Rays odds

Provided by BetMGM Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 9:09 a.m. ET.

• Moneyline (ML): Yankees -105 (bet $105 to win $100) | Rays -115 (bet $115 to win $100)
• Run line (RL)/Against the spread (ATS): Yankees -1.5 (+165) | Rays +1.5 (-200)
• Over/Under (O/U): 7.5 (O: +100 | U: -120)

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Yankees at Rays picks and predictions

Prediction

Rays 5, Yankees 4

Moneyline

Tampa Bay is 28-15 at home (10-3 since June 8).

The Yankees, losers of 3 straight road openers, send out one of the best pitchers in the AL, but Schlittler has fallen off a bit in recent weeks. Some hard-hit balls have crept into his results, and he is backed by what figures as a bullpen overrated by its 3.10 surface ERA.

Tampa Bay has won 3 straight series-opening contests. Tampa clocked a 3-game sweep of the Yanks at Tropicana Field April 10-12.

TAKE THE RAYS (-115).

Run line/Against the spread

No interest; PASS.

Over/Under

The Over is 4-1 in the last 5 series games played in Florida.

The Rays were shut out Sunday in Houston, but they had banged out an .890 OPS in averaging 6.18 runs per game in their previous 11.

Look for the bullpens to be a big factor in this series. That's certainly a fade on the New York side. Yanks' relievers have lived dangerously of late. Over recent weeks that have logged fortunate home run yields despite getting few ground balls. The New York bullpen has registered a lucky .235 batting average on balls in play over the last 30 days.

The OVER 7.5 (+100) is the value end of this series opener at Tropicana Field.

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