The Toronto Blue Jays will be looking to play the role of spoiler when they take on the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday as +170 home underdogs on the MLB odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Toronto enters its final series of the season on a roll, posting wins in 10 of its past 15 outings including a 6-3 run in nine home contests going into Friday’s game at Rogers Centre. The team will now try to maintain that steady pace in a bid to derail the postseason hopes of the Rays, who enter the series in control of the second AL Wild Card over the Cleveland Indians.
The Blue Jays return to action after taking two of three from the visiting Baltimore Orioles to open their final homestand of 2019. The team closed things out with Wednesday’s narrow 3-2 victory as heavy -150 chalk, which also marked the lowest-scoring date during their current 10-5 run. Toronto has tallied eight or more runs on five occasions over its past 15 contests, and averaged 5.66 runs per game during that stretch.
However, the Blue Jays have also surrendered big run totals at times during their current steady run. The team has seen opponents reach double digits in runs scored four times over its past 11 outings, and twice in this week’s series with the Orioles. That high-scoring pace has generated a steady 9-3-1 run for the OVER in totals betting, according to the OddsShark MLB Database.
Fresh off a two-game sweep of the AL East-leading New York Yankees, the Rays arrive in Toronto for Friday’s game set as strong -200 favourites at betting sites. The Rays limited the Yankees to just one total run during their back-to-back wins this week, capped by Wednesday’s 4-0 shutout victory as -145 road chalk.
The Rays’ two victories in New York also paid out for those taking the UNDER in totals betting. That put the brakes on a steady 8-2-1 run for the OVER for the team, and has contributed to a somewhat lofty total set at 9.5 for Friday night’s contest.
Overall, Tampa Bay has now won six of seven to stay a step ahead of the Indians in the AL Wild Card race, but has struggled with consistency on the road, going 5-8 over their past 13 games away from Tropicana Field. However, the Rays have enjoyed steady success against Toronto, sweeping the Blue Jays in a four-game series in Tampa Bay earlier this month to improve to improve to 12-4 in 16 meetings this season.
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