Rays vs. Tigers Pick – MLB Predictions & Odds 3/30/23

The Detroit Tigers and the Tampa Bay Rays meet in MLB Opening Day action from Tropicana Field on Thursday.

Detroit Tigers Team Preview

The Detroit Tigers come into the 2023 season, looking to rebound from a frustrating 2022 campaign that saw Detroit miss the postseason for the 8^th straight season with a 66-96 record. This will be the farewell season for Miguel Cabrera who announced that this will be his final go around in the major leagues but there are pieces there to help make one last run for Miggy. Spencer Torkelson, Austin Meadows, Riley Greene and Akil Baddoo lead a relatively high-upside Tigers batting order, with Javier Baez hoping to have a better time at the plate this season. The concern for the Tigers should be their pitching rotation, as it’s kind of alarming when Eduardo Rodriguez is your top arm to go on opening day. There are other pieces, like Matt Manning, Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal, but those three combined for just 190 innings last season and the Tigers as a result were forced to make do with a patchwork rotation, which likely won’t cut it as the season progresses. For opening day though, Rodriguez will get the start after going 5-5 with a 4.05 ERA and 72 strikeouts last season.

Tampa Bay Rays Team Preview

The Tampa Bay Rays will hope for some sustained success in 2023, after another solid campaign, going 86-76, and making the postseason for the fourth straight year, but it was the first since 2019 where the Rays went into the postseason without the AL East division title in hand. The Rays’ stay in the playoffs was short-lived as Tampa Bay was swept in the Wild Card round by the Cleveland Guardians. A good chunk of last year’s roster returns led by Wander Franco who looked decent despite an injury-plagued 2022 campaign. Randy Arozarena is back as well after a solid showing at the World Baseball Classic, and is flanked by Manuel Margot and Jose Siri in Tampa Bay’s outfield. Yandy Diaz had a career year with a .296 batting average but guys like David Peralta and longtime Ray Kevin Kiermaier’s departures left a big void for Tampa Bay coming into the season. The lone acquisition the Rays made was adding Zach Eflin to the pitching rotation to replace Corey Kluber and Ryan Yarbrough, but it’s still a decent rotation led by Shane McClanahan who is one of the AL’s top starting pitchers, as well as Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen who took big strides last season. McClanahan will get the start here on opening day and was 12-8 with a 2.54 ERA and 194 strikeouts last season.

Trends

Detroit is 9-4 in their last 13 games overall and 5-17 in their last 22 games against the AL East while the over is 5-1-2 in their last 8 games against a team with a left-handed starter. Tampa Bay is 2-5 in their last 7 home games and 8-20 in their last 28 games overall while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 games against the AL Central.

Pick

I’m sticking with Tampa Bay here. I don’t have many high hopes for the Tigers this season and I think it’s going to be a struggle from the word go for Detroit. Tampa Bay’s a solid team to begin with and they have a distinct and clear pitching edge here with McClanahan and I just feel like The Rays get the job done to start things off on the right foot. Give me Tampa Bay here.