The MLB season continues this week and the excellent Tampa Bay Rays look to continue their superb start to the season when they face off against the Baltimore Orioles once again on Wednesday 10 May.
The Rays have already played against the Orioles twice this week with one win and one loss to move to 29-8 for the season, and they'll look to continue that great form in the final meeting between the two until June.
We'll take a look at their seasons so far and provide you with our best free MLB picks to see if we can earn you some extra cash while you watch some excellent baseball.
| MLB |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tampa Bay Rays | -116 | -116 | -116 |
| Baltimore Orioles | +106 | +106 | +106 |
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Tampa Bay Rays @ Baltimore Orioles information
- Wednesday,May 10th 2023
- Oriole Park, Baltimore, Maryland
- 18:35 ET
Tampa Bay Rays season so far
The Rays could not have wished for a better start to their 2023 MLB season, going 13-0 before they suffered their first defeat at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays.
They started the campaign with a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers, where they dominated them at home in all three games for comfortable victories. Tampa followed that win up with a trip to Washington Nationals, beating them in their mini-series too.
Up next were the Oakland Athletics back in Florida, and Eflin performed excellently to earn a hard-fought 9-5 win. After that was just pure domination though as Springs and Rasmussen claimed 11-0 wins each in the next two games to make this stunning start to the season even better. They then swept the Boston Red Sox in a four-game series before losing three of their next four games to the Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds.
They responded with a six-game winning streak after that before two losses to the Astros, before winning three in a row against the White Sox to end the month with a 23-6 record.
So far in May they have gone 6-2, including three of their last four games. Their only defeat came to the New York Yankees, prior to Tuesday's defeat to Baltimore.
Baltimore Orioles season so far
Baltimore didn't have the best of starts to the season as they opened up their campaign by going 3-3 against the Red Sox and Texas Rangers in their opening six games. They followed that up by going 1-2 against the Yankees, before a 3-1 run against the Oakland Athletics.
They found their rhythm after the third win over Oakland, losing just one of their next eight games and going on a seven-game winning streak that included victories over the White Sox, Washington Nationals, Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox.
April ended with a run of four wins from their last five games to give them a record of 19-9 heading into May.
This month hasn't been good for them though, going 4-4 including defeats in three of their last four games against the Atlanta Braves (2) and Tampa Bay Rays. Their current season record stands at 25-13 heading into this game.
Check out our review for BetOnline sports betting here.
Tampa Bay Rays @ Baltimore Orioles preview
It's been an unbelievable season so far for the Rays, and that doesn't look likely to come to an end any time soon, especially not against the Orioles after a shock loss last night.
So far this season they have hit 228 runs, more than anyone else in the league and also have the best slugging percentage (.518) and best on base percentage (.346) of any team across the MLB. Their batting average of .275 also ranks at number one in the league, and shows just how good they are at punishing mistakes.
When it comes to pitching they're just as efficient. They rank first in the league for their earned run average (2.93) while their WHIP sits at 1.13, which is second only to the Minnesota Twins as they've played one game less. Tampa's BAA of .209 is spectacular, but their quality starts sit at 13th in the league with 12.
Baltimore's numbers aren't even remotely close to that. They rank 7th in the league for runs scored (186), 12th in the league for slugging percentage (.419), 8th for on base percentage (.335) and 12th for batting average (.254). Their pitching numbers are even worse, making this look like a mismatch of great proportion.
They're 16th for their earned run average (4.40), rank 16th for their WHIP (1.32), 19th for their BAA (.253) and 22nd for quality starts (8) across the entire MLB.
MLB Picks: Rays win again
The numbers explain this one pretty clearly and somehow the odds still look decent for it.
They're the better team everywhere and are coming off a shock defeat they'll be keen to put things right against lesser opposition. Anything other than a Rays win is a huge upset despite being on the road, especially going back-to-back and there is great value in backing them to move to 30 wins for the season in mid-May.
Check out our review for BetUS sports betting here.
