Tampa Bay Rays vs Texas Rangers Prediction, Odds and Picks for Friday, 04/04/25

The Tampa Bay Rays travel to Texas on Friday to begin a 3-game series with the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field. The Rays enter the series with a 4-2 record, while the Rangers come in at 5-2 following back-to-back 1-0 road wins over the Cincinnati Reds earlier in the week. Tampa Bay will lean on right-hander Zack Littell to make the start after an efficient outing in Colorado, where he completed 6 full innings on just 87 pitches while surrendering 1 run and racking up 7 strikeouts. For the Rangers, Tyler Mahle will toe the rubber as he looks to bounce back from a rough outing against the Red Sox in which he only allowed 1 run — but he couldn’t make it through 2 full innings, pitching 1.2 innings with 4 walks on 61 pitches.

Neither team’s offense has been insanely overwhelming through the first few weeks of the season, but I trust the Rays more than the Rangers at the moment. The Rangers have only put up 18 runs across 7 games and plated just 5 runs in their series with the Reds. They have the upper hand over the Rays in terms of home runs — with the Rangers at 7 and the Rays at 3. Overall, though, the Rays have produced better at-bats on a more consistent basis. Tampa Bay ranks eighth with a .342 OBP as compared to the Rangers, who rank 27th at .256. Mahle had some control issues in his first outing and if the Rays work some at-bats against him, I think it will lead to early success. I’m backing the Rays at plus money to start the series with a win.

Rays vs Rangers prediction: Tampa Bay ML (+105) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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