ALDS Game 1 MLB Odds: Tampa Bay Rays at Texas Rangers
Thursday, September 29, 2011
by WagerWeb Sportsbook
After an absolutely epic rally from 9 games back in the wild-card race as late as September and an equally epic comeback win over the New York Yankees on Wednesday night after trailing 7-0 in the bottom of the eighth, the Tampa Bay Rays don’t have much time to celebrate as they will face AL West champion Texas Rangers in Game 1 of their American League Division Series on Friday afternoon. Texas is a -185 favorite on Wager Web Sportsbook.
This is a rematch of last season’s ALDS, won by the Rangers in five games essentially because Cliff Lee was unhittable. But now Lee is in Philadelphia.
The Rangers are red-hot, having won six in a row and 14 of their last 16 games. They have plenty of power, with five players boasting at least 25 homers — 2B Ian Kinsler (32), ex-Ray OF Josh Hamilton (25), 3B Adrian Beltre (32), C Mike Napoli (30) and OF Nelson Cruz (29), who has been slumping since returning from a hamstring injury. And Michael Young was in the race for the batting title and finished tied for second at .338, with 11 homers and 106 RBIs for the season.
By far, September has been the Rangers’ best month hitting-wise of the season: a team batting average of .324 and 47 home runs in 24 games. The most homers they’ve hit in any other month this season was 36. After missing the last week of July and all of August, Beltre is making up for lost time. He has 12 home runs in his last 15 games, and for the month, he’s batting .379 with those 12 home runs, in only 95 at bats. Napoli is is hitting .418 with six home runs in just 67 at-bats this month.
Texas won a team-record 96 games this season. The Texas Rangers posted easily their best run differential in franchise history, finishing the season positive by 178 runs – 49 more than the runner-up 1996 squad.
The Texas Rangers are big favorites for the opener because they start C.J. Wilson: The staff ace was 16-7 with a 2.94 ERA this season. And he’s particularly tough against the Rays, going 4-0 with a 2.25 ERA in 17 career appearances (four starts). Tampa Bay counters with Jeff Niemann (11-7, 4.06. In September, Niemann had two great starts where he limited the opposing team to only two runs, but he also had two starts where he lasted five innings and allowed five runs or more. Both of those bad starts were against Texas and he took the loss in both. Niemann, pulled after one inning during his last start, said the tightness in his upper back was not an issue and he is ready to pitch. Thursday would have been his normal day to start.
Texas won the season series 5-4.
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adrian beltre - c.j. wilson - cliff lee - ian kinsler - jeff niemann - josh hamilton - michael young - mike napoli - nelson cruz - new york yankees