Karns is on a Roll, Back Tampa in Baseball Betting Against Rangers

While it’s still too early to declare any of the division races done, there are a number of teams that now know they are going to have to focus on the Wild Card spots in order to get into the playoffs. The Texas Rangers and the Tampa Bay Rays are both still alive in the AL Wild Card race, which makes their 3-game baseball betting series in Texas all the more intriguing. The first game is set for Friday night.

Tampa Bay vs. Texas MLB Game Info

Date/Time: Friday, August 14th, 8:05 PM Venue: Globe Life Park in Arlington, Arlington, TX TV: Sun Sports Radio: WDAE 620 AM /95.3 FM, WGES 680 Opening line: Texas -120

Happy National #LeftHandersDay to all southpaws out there. pic.twitter.com/7G23k48jqR

— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) August 13, 2015

The Texas Rangers (55-57) have become their own worst enemy, as they are now losing ground after battling so hard to get back into the playoff race. Landing Cole Hamels at the trade deadline seemed to invigorate this team, as they responded by sweeping the Houston Astros in a series that helped launch them back into playoff contention. It was almost as though they relaxed after that, though, as they went on to lose 2 of 3 to the Mariners, and are now in danger of being swept by the Minnesota Twins. The offense has dried up, and it’s really tough to see how they are going to overcome their 3.5 game Wild Card deficit if they don’t turn things around in this series. Martin Perez (1-2, 5.81 ERA) has been pretty steady in all but 1 of his 5 starts so far, and he will try to build on his last 2 excellent starts when he pitches on Friday. The Tampa Bay Rays (58-56) are the team that simply refuses to die. Most pundits wrote them off a couple of weeks back when it looked as though their lack of offensive talent was beginning to catch up to them. They have responded brilliantly, though, to go 7-3 in their last 10 games, which included the 4-game win streak that they are currently on. The Rays were impressive in taking 2 of 3 from the Mets, which they then followed up with a 2-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves. Those games all came at home, though, and now they have 10 games on the road that could pretty well determine whether or not they stay in the postseason hunt. Nathan Karns (7-5, 3.52 ERA) is on a hot streak right now, going 3-0 in his last 4 starts. He will be the pitcher of choice for the Rays on Friday.

MLB Injuries

These are two teams that appear to be headed in different directions, and you get the feeling that if Karns can continue to pitch the way he has been recently, it should be a win for Tampa.