Rays vs Indians in A. L. Wild Card Betting Picks
The Rays turned the tables on Texas
The Tampa Bay Rays will face the Cleveland Indians in Wednesday’s American League Wild Card playoff. Something has to give in this game as two red hot teams will go at it for the chance to take on the Boston Red Sox in the best-of-five A. L. Division Series. The Rays come in having won nine of their last eleven and Cleveland comes in on a ten game win streak of their own. The Rays had to go an extra game to decide the visiting team in tomorrow night’s game as they beat the Texas Rangers 5-2 to finish the regular season 92-71. The Indians were 92-70 to gain home field for the one game playoff.
This is Tampa Bay’s fourth straight 90+ win season and sixth consecutive season with an above .500 record. Only the Rangers have four straight 90 win seasons. Despite the good regular season play, the Rays have made early post season exits in their last two trips. However, the Rangers were the team that sent them home both times. The Rays got some payback last night behind the pitching of their ace David Price and their power hitting star Evan Longoria. Price pitched a complete game while Longoria hit a two-run homer to pace Tampa Bay.
Although the game was technically a regular season game, it felt like a playoff game as the Ballpark in Arlington was filled to capacity. The crowd reacted to every pitch and every hit as the season was riding on the outcome. The Rays sent the crowd home disappointed and will try to do the same on Wednesday.
If ever there is a crowd accustomed to disappointment it is the fans of Cleveland. The city is under a vicious sports curse that goes back a half century. Chicago Cubs fans can cry all they want about being cursed. But Cub fans have witnessed their Chicago Blackhawks win two Stanley Cups in the last three years. They watched the Chicago Bears win a Super Bowl in 1985 (hard to believe that’s been nearly 30 years ago) and they had the Chicago Bulls dynasty of the Michael Jordan era which netted them six NBA titles. Cleveland has won at nothing since 1964. The Indians have lost two World Series in the 1990s. In 1997 they led Game Seven going into the bottom of the ninth before losing to the Florida Marlins, a team in it’s fourth season. The Cleveland Cavaliers went to one NBA Finals during Lebron James and were swept. They have had to watch James take the Miami Heat to three straight Finals and two straight championships. The Cleveland Browns never made it to a Super Bowl until they moved to Baltimore. Since then the Baltimore Ravens have won it twice, including last season.
So if there has ever been a fan base due for some good postseason luck, it would be the Cleveland fans. But one could hardly blame them if they are less than optimistic about their chances tomorrow. Regardless of the outcome, the Indians had a great year under former Red Sox manager Terry Francona. He knows a thing or two about ending a curse. He managed the Sox to two World Series titles after they had not won one since Babe Ruth was a star pitcher for them in 1918. If he can end this curse he might become a bigger deal in Ohio than Woody Hayes and. Urban Meyer combined.
Betonline has the Rays -1.5 +145 and the Indians +1.5 -165 ATS. Moneyline has the Rays -111 and the Indians +101. Over/Under is 7 with over -115 and under is -105. Alex Cobb gets the start for the Rays. What a good story that wild be if he can pitch the Rays into the Division Series after he was hit in the head by a line drive and missed a couple of months this season. The Indians counter with Danny Salazar who is 2-3 on the season. That pitching matchup would seem to favor the Rays.
We are going to go with Tampa Bay -111 and the under -105.
