Tampa Bay Rays vs Texas Rangers Prediction: Tampa Bay expected to even things

On Wednesday, Major League Baseball action will take place at Tropicana Field, featuring a matchup between the Texas Rangers and the Tampa Bay Rays. The Wild Card playoffs are being played as a best-of-three series, and this will be the second game of the series. The Texas Rangers won their season opener on Tuesday with a scoreless victory.

The players on the Tampa Bay Rays' victory over their division rivals, the Blue Jays, in two of the three games played over the weekend completed the regular season on a high note for the team. In the first game of the series on Tuesday, the Tampa Bay Rays committed four mistakes and were unable to get anything going at the plate. Two of the team's six hits were contributed by Randy Arozarena and Taylor Walls, respectively. Zach Eflin is the pitcher the Tampa Bay Rays will send out to the mound to start game two. Eflin was able to finish the regular season with a record of 16-8 and a 3.50 earned run average in 31 starts. Eflin has appeared in a total of 10 postseason games throughout his career and has compiled a 3.38 ERA with no decisions.

After losing three of four games against the Seattle Mariners in the Texas Rangers' last series of the regular season, the Rangers entered the postseason on a bit of a losing streak. On Tuesday, the Texas Rangers defeated the Tampa Bay Bat Rays 4-0 in the opening game of the Wild Card round. The Rangers had nine hits as a team and scored two runs in the sixth inning of the game, which helped propel them to the victory. Corey Seager and Evan Carter each had two hits, while Evan Carter contributed a walk to the winning effort. Corey Seager also drove in a run and had two singles of his own. Nathan Eovaldi will take the mound for the Texas Rangers in game two, where he will serve as the starting pitcher. This past season, Eovaldi made 25 starts and finished with a 12-5 record, a 3.63 earned run average, 132 strikeouts, and 144.0 innings pitched. In 11 career playoff games (six starts), Eovaldi has a record of 4-3 with a 3.14 earned run average (ERA).

I believe that I will continue to side with the Tampa Bay Rays in this contest. However, the Tampa Bay Rays appeared disinterested in many aspects throughout the first game of the series, and in order to secure victory in Game 2, they are going to require a strong comeback performance from the entirety of the squad. Over the course of his most recent starts, Eflin has displayed solid pitching performances. Eflin has a record of 2-0 after his most recent three starts, with six earned runs on 12 hits and one walk. Eflin should be able to get things off to a good start because he has struck out 12 batters in 10.2 career postseason innings and 22 batters overall in his most recent 17.0 innings pitched. Even though the Rays' starting pitcher, Tyler Glasnow, had a rocky start in the first game of the series on Tuesday (5.0 innings; six hits; five walks; three earned runs), it didn't matter because the team didn't do much of anything offensively. The players on the Rays roster who were not named Arozarena or Walls combined for only two hits and one walk. The bullpen turned in a strong performance, which is encouraging news, and prior to their loss on Tuesday, the Tampa Bay Rays had won seven consecutive games with four or more runs in each contest. I have a feeling that the Tampa Bay Rays are going to respond well to this challenge and square the score in game 2.