The first place Tampa Bay Rays play host to the Boston Red Sox in a Monday night ESPN 2 MLB betting matchup. The Rays have been excellent all season while the Red Sox have been up and down. This will be a key baseball betting series for the Red Sox to prove they can stay within striking distance of Tampa Bay.
MLB betting odds favor Tampa Bay and Wade Davis on Monday. He is 4-3 on the season with a 3.35 ERA. He held the powerful Yankees lineup to two runs on seven hits and three walks in his last start. This will be his third career start against Boston and he will be looking to pitch better. He is 0-1 with a 10.57 ERA in his two starts against Boston. Davis has been solid at home going 3-3 this season with a 3.33 ERA and even with a .500 record at home he has pitched well.
This is the first of a three-game series between the two teams. It is the first game of a seven-game homestand for Tampa Bay. In the last 20 meetings between the two teams the Rays have actually won 12 of the 20 games. The teams met for four games last month in Boston and the Rays swept the Red Sox. Tampa won 3-1, 6-5, 7-1 and 8-2. In the last nine games between the two in Tampa, the Rays have won six of the nine in baseball betting.
The Red Sox have improved a little bit recently in MLB betting as David Ortiz has started to hit. It was looking like Ortiz may be on his last legs but he has picked it up in the last week. Ortiz was upset that people had lost faith in him. It was looking like Ortiz would not make it past the month of May but he was tied for the league lead in home runs earlier this month and it was looking like he had put his early slump behind him. Whether that continues or not remains to be seen.
Tampa Bay has actually been better on the road this season than at home. That is not to say they are not a good home team in MLB betting. The Rays are 13-7 at home this season and that is still a good record vs. the baseball betting odds.