Advertisement

MLB betting: The Rays are significant favorites over the Red Sox in the ALDS

nick bromberg
Senior writer
·3 min read

Welcome to Yahoo Sports' Division Series betting previews. Below you'll find all the odds available at BetMGM for the ALDS between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays along with our predicted winner.

Game 1 of the Series is Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.

Series winner odds

Tampa Bay Rays (-145)

Boston Red Sox (+145)

Exact outcome odds

Tampa Bay sweep (+450)

Tampa Bay 3-1 (+350)

Tampa Bay 3-2 (+275)

Red Sox sweep (+900)

Red Sox 3-1 (+450)

Red Sox 3-2 (+500)

General series odds

3-game series (+275)

4-game series (+140)

5-game series (+150)

Series schedule

Game 1: Oct. 7

Game 2: Oct. 8

Game 3: Oct. 10

Game 4 (if necessary): Oct. 11

Game 5 (if necessary): Oct. 13

Tampa Bay Rays' Brandon Lowe hits a home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees on Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Tampa Bay Rays' Brandon Lowe hits a home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees on Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Tampa Bay Rays (-175)

The Rays had an American League-best 100 wins thanks to incredible dominance of the Baltimore Orioles. The Rays were 18-1 against the worst team in the AL East, though they weren’t too shabby against their other division opponents either. Tampa was a combined 33-24 against Boston, New York and Toronto and won each of its season series with those teams 11-8.

Second baseman Brandon Lowe led the team with 39 home runs while All-Star catcher Mike Zunino was second with 33. Nelson Cruz fortified the lineup at the trade deadline and he finished with 32 homers after hitting 13 with the Rays, though he hit significantly worse with Tampa than he did with Minnesota before he was traded.

The Rays’ pitching staff features seven pitchers who finished games for the team in 2021 and bullpen that is one of the best in baseball despite 11(!) pitchers on the 60-day injured list. Eight Tampa relievers who threw at least 29 innings had ERAs below 3.00. Shane McClanahan will start Game 1 and Shane Baz is starting Game 2. The 24-year-old McClanahan has 141 strikeouts in 123 innings and the 22-year-old Baz has thrown just 13 innings in 2021.

Boston - October 5: Red Sox starting pitcher Nate Eovaldi pounds his glove after striking out the last batter of the top of the first inning. The Boston Red Sox host the New York Yankees in the American League Wild Card Playoff Game at Fenway Park in Boston on Oct. 5, 2021. (Photo by Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Boston - October 5: Red Sox starting pitcher Nate Eovaldi pounds his glove after striking out the last batter of the top of the first inning. The Boston Red Sox host the New York Yankees in the American League Wild Card Playoff Game at Fenway Park in Boston on Oct. 5, 2021. (Photo by Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Boston Red Sox (+145)

Can the Red Sox vanquish another AL East foe after taking down the Yankees on Tuesday night? Boston got a stellar pitching performance from Nate Eovaldi and he’ll be ready for Sunday’s Game 3 with four days of rest.

Rafael Devers hit 38 homers while Hunter Renfroe hit 31. Xander Bogaerts got on base at a .370 clip as the Red Sox posted the third-best OPS in the majors at .777 thanks to six players with at least 20 homers.

The offense helped carry a pitching staff that was exactly league average when you look at ERA (4.26), though Boston’s ERA+ was above average. Red Sox pitchers allowed nearly a hit an inning (fifth-worst in baseball) while also striking out 9.7 batters per nine innings. Only four staffs struck out batters at a higher rate than the Red Sox. Eduardo Rodriguez is set to start Game 1 while Boston’s Game 2 starter is TBD.

Series prediction

Tampa in 4. A Boston win wouldn't be entirely surprising, but Tampa should have enough pitching power to get the series done before a winner-take-all Game 5.