New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays Predictions, Odds & Picks

• Don’t underestimate what this day means for the Rays
• Kluber looks for first win as a Yankee
• Right names leading the way for New York thus far

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New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays Betting Lines

Check out the betting lines for New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays!

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New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays Betting Lines

Check out the betting lines for New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays!

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New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays Betting Lines

Check out the betting lines for New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays!

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New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays Betting Lines

Check out the betting lines for New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays!

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New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays Betting Lines

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New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays Betting Lines

Check out the betting lines for New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays!

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New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays Betting Lines

Check out the betting lines for New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays!

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New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays Betting Lines

Check out the betting lines for KNew York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays!

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New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays Betting Lines

Check out the betting lines for New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays!

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New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays Betting Lines

Check out the betting lines for New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays!

There are more than 150 games remaining for each team, yet for some reason this feels like a little bit of a big series. The defending American League champions have lost four games in a row and only two teams in the league have been outscored by more runs this year. However, none of that matters when the Rays play the Yankees at the Trop — they just frequently seem to find a way.

Picks:

Rays with the spread

Over 8.5

How to Watch New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays

As Big as an Early April Series Gets For Tampa Bay

Sometimes, it’s hard to get worked up for baseball games early in April. But let me tell you, absolutely nobody will have a hard time getting ready for this first matchup between the Yankees and Rays.

The Rays knocked the big-bad Yankees out of the postseason in a 5-game thriller last October, which came after they dominated the regular-season series, 8-2 in 10 games. That’s a major reason they won the division, got the home-field advantage and ultimately, represented the American League in the World Series.

Plus, there was a lot of bad blood — which stemmed from Aroldis Chapman throwing a 100 mph fastball at Mike Brosseau’s head. But it was Brosseau who would get the last laugh, hitting the deciding home run off of Chapman in the postseason.

Plus, for the first time in more than a decade, the Rays opened the season on the road. They will finally return home after six games in Miami and Boston and play in front of fans for the first time since 2019.Combine all of that with the fact that Tampa Bay has lost four straight games — longer than their longest streak all of last year — and this becomes a very important game on a number of levels.

Kluber Looks For First Win as a Yankee

Corey Kluber hasn’t had a chance to show the past few years whether or not he can still be the same pitcher — or at least largely similar — as the one who won the American League Cy Young award in either 2014 or 2017.

That was when he was in his prime — three straight All-Star game and five top-10 Cy Young finishes in a row — but he’s been doing nothing but battling injuries lately with both a strained abdominal as well as a torn muscle in his shoulder.

Kluber pitched just 36.2 innings over the past two seasons, but he’s now being asked to add experience to a Yankees starting rotation that might be one of the few weaknesses on the team.

He was underwhelming in his first start in pinstripes last week, giving up five hits and three walks in just more than four innings but just one run in an eventual 5-3 Yankees win. Kluber battled location issues all game — uncharacteristically — so it will be interesting to see if he’s able to reign it back in. But even though the start wasn’t great, he got to throw 74 pitches and left the game healthy, so that’s a good start.

The Right Names Are Coming Up Big Thus Far for New York

Every team wants everybody to be playing well, but of course, that’s not possible. However, for what has been a rather disappointing start in terms of wins and losses — New York is just 3-3 — the right names are performing well early on.

The Yankees have outscored their opponents by 10 runs thus far, one of the seven teams to be able to say that. And they’re doing so first and foremost thanks to dominant pitching giving up just 2.5 runs per game, but also because their best hitters are stepping up when it counts.

Aaron Judge is hitting .364 with a team-high two home runs and five RBI, DJ LeMahieu has a .400 on-base percentage, Giancarlo Stanton is tied for the team lead with five runs driven, and Gary Sanchez, who struggled beyond belief in 2019, already has two home runs.

But it’s a clear line for New York — score four runs to win. They’re 3-0 when they score more than four runs and they’re 0-3 when they score fewer than four runs. On top of that, two of the losses have come in extra innings.

Breaks will start going the Yankee’s way if they keep playing well, but Tampa Bay is a tough place to start that, even if they are the favorite.