<p>The best team in baseball so far this season looks to add to its divisional lead when the Yankees host the Rays for the opener of a three-game AL East series Tuesday night in the Bronx. Coming off his worst outing of the season, Gerrit Cole hits the hill for New York here against Corey Kluber for Tampa Bay.</p>
<p>Who do we like for our <b>free baseball betting pick</b>?</p>
<h2>MLB Betting Odds</h2>
<p>Tuesday's baseball betting lines opened New York and Cole at around -195 over Tampa and Kluber, with an over/under of eight runs. Early betting action then bumped the Yankees a nickel to -200.</p>
<p>The Yanks are also lined at around -110, giving the run and a half on the run line.</p>
<h2>Rays-Yankees MLB Betting Preview</h2>
<p>Tampa Bay just lost two of three games at Minnesota over the weekend, avoiding the sweep by winning Sunday's series finale 6-0. The Rays then had Monday off.</p>
<p>Just before that, Tampa swept three games from St. Louis. So the Rays are 4-2 over their last six games.</p>
<p>At 35-25 overall, Tampa Bay trails first-place New York by eight games in the AL East but also owns the No. 2 spot in the AL wild-card standings, 3.5 games clear of third-place Boston.</p>
<p>New York, meanwhile, just swept three games at home from the Cubs over the weekend by scores of 2-1, 8-0 and Sunday 18-4. The Yankees then also had Monday off.</p>
<p>Just before that, New York took two of three games at the Twins, and just before that, it swept three games from Detroit. Going back a bit further, the Yankees are 11-1 over their last 12 games.</p>
<p>At 44-16 overall, New York leads Houston by 7.5 games in the battle for the best record in the American League.</p>
<p>This series is the second meeting between these teams this season. Three weeks ago, the teams split four low-scoring games in St. Pete.</p>
<h2>Tuesday's Pitching Match-Up </h2>
<p><a class="advblue" href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/pitcherlog/48274&quot; title="Gerrit Cole Pitching Game Stats">Cole</a> is 7/11 on quality starts this season. Last Thursday, he got bopped for seven runs and eight hits, including five home runs, through just 2 1/3 innings at the Twins, although New York rallied to win that game 10-7. But over his two starts previous to that, he held Detroit and Tampa Bay to just one run and four hits through 13 innings, with three walks against 19 strikeouts.</p>
<p>The Yankees are 9-3 with Cole this season.</p>
<p>Over his last five starts against the Rays, four last year, and one this season, Cole allowed 17 runs - 15 earned - and 22 hits through 30 2/3 innings, with seven walks and 49 whiffs. New York lost four of those five games.</p>
<p><a class="advblue" href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/pitcherlog/40227&quot; title="Corey Kluber Pitching Game Logs ">Kluber</a> is 5/11 on quality starts this year and two for his last three. Last Wednesday, he gave up three runs and six hits through five innings of an 11-3 Tampa win over St. Louis. And over his two starts previous to that, he held Texas and these Yankees to two runs and seven hits through 12 innings, with zero walks and nine K's.</p>
<p>The Rays are 6-5 with Kluber this season, 3-0 his last three times out.</p>
<p>In his most recent start against New York, 17 days ago, Kluber allowed just one run and three hits through six innings of a 3-1 Tampa Bay victory.</p>
<h2>Splits With the Sticks</h2>
<p>Tampa is batting .225 against right-handed pitching this season, with a .289 team OBP and a .376 team slugging percentage.</p>
<p>New York is slashing .252/.333/.439 against right-handed pitching. The Yankees have also scored at least eight runs five times over their last nine games.</p>
<h2>The Bullpens </h2>
<p>The Rays bullpen owns a 3.05 ERA this season and a 1.16 WHIP.</p>
<p>The New York pen owns a 2.87 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP. This unit is operating without closer Chapman, who's on the DL with an Achilles injury, but they haven't seemed to miss him too much.<br />
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<span style="font-size:14px; color:#008000;">Get more details:</span> <a href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/matchup/1605316">Tampa Bay Rays at NY Yankees 6/14/22 Betting Stats</a>
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<h2>MLB Betting Trends</h2>
<ul>
<li>The Rays are 14-12 on the road this season and 26-19 against right-handed starters.</li>
<li>The Yankees are an ML-best 26-7 at home and 31-11 against RH starters.</li>
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<h2>Totals Report</h2>
<ul>
<li>The Under is 30-26 in Rays games this season.</li>
<li>The Under is 32-27 in Yankees games.</li>
<li>The Under is 18-15 at Yankee Stadium this season.</li>
<li>The Under is 3-1 in Rays-Yankees games this season.</li>
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