Free Pick | MLB | Saturday | July 6

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#916 Texas Rangers (Heaney) -110 over Tampa Bay Rays (Bradley) 3:05 PM CT
Texas has been a difficult team to support in 2024 as the 2023 World Series champions have been an extreme disappointment at 40-48. Texas has won three of four with the Rays, following sweeping the Rays in the playoffs last October as well however as Tampa Bay has also been a disappointment in the American League. Tampa Bay has already started the process of clearing out players even while playing .500 ball for the season and still in the AL Wild Card conversation sitting 4.5 games out of the final spot. Tampa Bay managed only three hits last night in a shutout loss and the Rays have topped five runs just twice in the past 10 games. Tampa Bay will draw some support today as the Rays have a good record vs. left-handers but Andrew Heaney is underrated with a tough-luck 3-9 record this season. Heaney had a terrible first month of the season, but he has a 3.21 ERA in 11 starts since May 1, allowing three or fewer earned runs in all 11 of those outings. Heaney has excellent strikeout and walk numbers and the Texas bullpen has been quite good of late, with a 2.40 ERA in the past 10 games. Taj Bradley has a glowing 11.7 K/9 but his FIP is well above his ERA and walks can be a problem. He has featured a low BABIP and a high strand rate in his abbreviated 2024 season so far and is likely to see his numbers slide closer to last season’s mediocre results over time. Heaney is the more reliable option and a late season run back into the wild card race shouldn’t be ruled out for the Rangers while the Rays have made it clear that they are no longer playing for 2024.