MLB picks: Rays vs. Phillies, White Sox vs. Blue Jays

Let’s discuss our two favorite MLB sides for Wednesday night!

We’ll begin with a look at the meeting between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Philadelphia Phillies. Then we’ll segue to a showdown between the Chicago White Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays.

Tampa Bay Rays (78-48) at Philadelphia Phillies (63-62), 7:05 p.m. ET

Two slumping starters in Ryan Yarbrough and Zack Wheeler collide at hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday night as the Rays visit the Phillies. Over bettors should act accordingly.

Yarbrough owns an alarming 5.53 ERA over his last five outings (27 2/3 innings), three of which came against the bottom-feeding Baltimore Orioles. He shouldn’t count on his bullpen to bail him out in this one; though the Rays’ relief corps ranks eighth by ERA over the last two weeks, their 3.43 ERA is far from a lights-out mark, and their strand rate in that span ranks just 19th (70.1% of runners left on base).

Odubel Herrera has been swinging a hot bat all month long for the Phillies, as evidenced by his 1.069 OPS. Look for him to be a sparkplug here.

Meanwhile, Wheeler’s ERA is on the rise due to a subpar August. He’s produced a 4.34 mark through four outings, and takes on a Tampa offense that’s averaged just under eight runs per game over its last eight tilts. Backing up Wheeler is Philly’s 19th-ranked bullpen by ERA over the last two weeks (4.89).

It will be interesting to see what 41-year-old Nelson Cruz does for an encore, as he played first base for the first time in his career against the Phillies on Tuesday night and knocked in the game-deciding 2-RBI double in the eighth inning.  

MLB pick: Over

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Chicago White Sox (73-54) at Toronto Blue Jays (65-59), 7:07 p.m. ET

The White Sox boast one of the best offenses in baseball, but even this unit may not be able to solve the Blue Jays’ Robbie Ray on Wednesday night.

Ray has a sub-2.00 ERA since the start of July, which was further lowered by an eight-inning masterpiece against the Detroit Tigers last Friday. He allowed just one run and fanned 11 batters. Ray took on Chicago on June 8 of this season and tallied a season-high 13 strikeouts while holding the White Sox to one run through 6 1/3 innings.

Toronto should be able to scratch out enough offense against Lucas Giolito and the sagging South Siders bullpen. The Blue Jays are fifth in the majors by runs per game (5.05), and have a red-hot Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (batting .400 over the last seven days) in their lineup.

MLB pick: Blue Jays -129