The Tampa Bay Rays will start ace left-hander Blake Snell on Wednesday night in Game 2 of the World Series against the Dodgers, while Los Angeles, the home team at the neutral site in Texas, will use a “bullpen” game.

How to Bet Rays vs. Dodgers MLB Odds & TV Info

• When: Wednesday, 8:08 PM ET
• Where: Globe Life Park, Arlington, Texas
• Probable pitchers (away/home): Blake Snell/Dustin May “opener”
• TV: Fox
• Stream/gameday audio: Fox Sports Go; https://www.mlb.com/live-stream-games/
• Opening MLB Lines: TBA

Why Bet on Tampa Bay? | 2020 MLB Expert Analysis

will be the first World Series played at a neutral site and fourth at a single ballpark, joining 1944 (all games played at Sportsman’s Park) and 1921-22 (all games played at Polo Grounds). The Rays were the ninth team in major league history to play a “winner take all” game in the Division Series and League Championship Series but only the third team to win both.  Combining regular season and postseason, the Rays have only lost once in their last 19 series since Aug 4, going 14-1-4 in series play.

Entering this year’s Fall Classic, the American League holds the overall lead in the World Series, 66-49. The National League has won six out of the last 10 and eight of the last 13 with wins by the Cardinals in 2006, the Phillies in 2008, the Giants in 2010, the Cardinals in 2011, the Giants in 2012 and 2014, the Cubs in 2016, and the Nationals last year. However, over a longer span in the World Series, the AL has taken 13 of 24 since 1996; 16 of 28 starting in 1991; and 21 of 37 times beginning in 1983.

It’s lefty Blake Snell on the mound. Blake Snell suffered his second loss of the 2020 postseason last Friday, giving up two runs on three hits over four-plus innings against the Astros in Game 6 of the ALCS. Snell struck out four while issuing four free passes. He through a lot of pitches through the first four innings, but managed to keep the Astros off the scoreboard.

The 2018 Cy Young winner returned for the fifth inning with a 1-0 lead, but issued a leadoff walk to Yuli Gurriel and then a single to Aledmys Diaz before turning the ball over to Diego Castillo. Unfortunately for Snell and the Rays, both of those inherited runners would soon come around to score, hanging the loss on Snell.

is 2-3 with a 2.88 ERA (25-IP, 8-ER) in seven career postseason apps (5 starts), including 2-2 with a 3.20 ERA (19.2-IP, 7-ER) in 4 starts this postseason. He faced the Dodgers once in his career. On Sep 17, 2019 at Dodger Stadium, Snell returned from the 10-day IL and retired all 6 batters faced, including 4 strikeouts.

Snell went 4-2 with a 3.24 ERA in the regular season, but his longest start of the season was 5 2/3 innings. That has continued in the postseason, as he has not yet pitched six or more innings through four starts.

Why Bet on LA Dodgers? | 2020 MLB Expert Analysis

Since the Yankees won three straight World Championships from 1998-2000, the NL holds a narrow lead over the AL with a 10-9 record in the Fall Classic. When the defending champion Nationals did not make the postseason in 2020, it guaranteed that MLB would not have a repeat World Series Champion for the 20^th consecutive season, extending the longest such streak in Major League history.

The winner of the first game of the World Series has gone on to win the Fall Classic 72 times (62.6%). That has been the case in 14 of the last 17 and 19 of the last 22 World Series beginning in 1997, with 2002 (San Francisco defeating Anaheim), 2009 (Philadelphia defeating New York), 2016 (Cleveland defeating Chicago) and 2017 (Los Angeles defeating Houston) the exceptions.

Of the 56 players that were on the Dodgers and Rays LCS rosters, 18 have previous World Series experience, including 17 from the Dodgers.  The Dodgers have made no changes to their roster for the World Series against the Rays. They once again will go with 15 pitches and 13 position players. The Dodgers added Edwin Rios and Alex Wood ahead of the NLCS and they are sticking with the same group.

With Clayton Kershaw starting Game 1 and Walker Buehler going in Game 3, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is expected to go with a bullpen game here, probably including all of Dustin May, who should open, Tony Gonsolin and Julio Urias. All three last pitched in Game 7 of the NLCS vs. Atlanta.

May was only asked to throw one inning as the opener against Atlanta on Sunday, allowing one run on one hit while striking out one and walking two. May had also started Game 5 just two days prior, throwing two innings. May has been a “starter” in three of his five postseason appearances this year, though he’s thrown a total of 7.2 innings across all five outings.

Gonsolin allowed two runs and two hits over two innings vs. Atlanta. Urias didn’t allow a run in the final three innings to pick up the win. Urias came in to pitch in the top of the seventh, and the left-hander didn’t allow a hit while throwing 39 pitches. The 24-year-old pitched exceptionally well in the series, giving up just a run in his eight innings and picking up two victories in the NLCS.

 

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