Rays vs Yankees Picks and Predictions: Cole Plays a Big Role at Home

The New York Yankees had an off day after earning an 18-4 win over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday, and the Bronx Bombers will now be searching for their fifth win in a row when they take on the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday. 

Will New York stay hot with a big win over Tampa Bay? Check out our Rays vs. Yankees MLB picks and predictions to find out. 

Rays vs Yankees odds

This odds widget represents the best odds available for each betting market from regulated sportsbooks.

This is a game in which you’ll want to take the run line if you’re backing the Yankees, as they’re up as high as -230 as moneyline favorites here. You can, however, get +195 odds if you like the Rays to win outright. 

The total, meanwhile, opened at 8 and it hasn’t yet moved. It’s likely the number sticks at around 8 here. 

Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right up until first pitch and be sure to check out the full MLB odds before placing your bets.

Rays vs Yankees predictions

• Prediction: Yankees -1.5 (-104)
• Prediction: Under 8 (-106)
• Best bet: Cole Over 8.5 Ks (+108)

Picks made on 6/14/2022 at 8:00 a.m. ET.
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.

Rays vs Yankees game info

• Location: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
• Date: Tuesday, June 14, 2022
• First pitch: 7:05 p.m. ET
• TV: TBS

Rays vs Yankees betting preview

Starting pitchers

Corey Kluber (3-2, 3.88 ERA): Kluber pitched well for the Yankees last season, and the righty is now doing some good work for the Rays. The veteran doesn’t work very deep into games anymore, but he has eight starts in which he’s given up two or fewer earned runs in 2022. He also pitched six innings of one-run ball in a 3-1 win over this New York team back on May 28. 

Gerrit Cole (5-1, 3.63 ERA): Cole is coming off one of his worst outings of the year, as he gave up seven runs on eight hits in just 2 1-3 innings against the Minnesota Twins on June 9. Cole allowed five homers in that game, but the Yankees were somehow able to earn the victory. Now, New York will be hoping that the ace can figure things out and get back to his dominant ways. He pitched six innings of one-run ball in his last match-up with Kluber, but that was a game Tampa Bay won. 

Weather

Be sure to monitor the gametime conditions with our MLB weather info.

Key injuries

Rays: J.P Feyereisen P (Out), Wander Franco SS (Out), Brandon Lowe 2B (Out), Phoenix Sanders P (Out), Chris Mazza P (Out), Shane Baz P (Out), Luis Patino P (Out), Nick Anderson P (Out), Tyler Glasnow P (Out).
Yankees: Jonathan Loaisiga P (Out), Aroldis Chapman P (Out), Chad Green P (Out), Luis Gil P (Out), Domingo German P (Out).

Find our latest MLB injury reports.

Betting trend to know

The Yankees are 49-19 in their last 68 home games. Find more MLB betting trends for Rays vs. Yankees

Rays vs Yankees picks and predictions

Our side and total predictions are based upon our analysis of the line and total in this game. Our best bet is our favorite pick across all markets.

Run line analysis

The Yankees are 49-19 in their last 68 games at Yankee Stadium, and they’re also 36-15 in their last 51 games against right-handed starters. That’s part of the reason New York is a massive favorite to win this game outright, which is why the run line is the play if you’re backing the Yankees. And, all in all, it’s hard to find a reason to back the Rays in this spot. 

Kluber has had a good year for the Rays, but he can have his struggles at times. Now, he faces a Yankees lineup that is first in the league in slugging percentage, isolated power and weighted runs created plus against right-handed pitching. This New York lineup is just filled with players that can hit for power, and the group is at its best against righties. The Yankees should be able to put up three or four runs against Kluber, at least. And then Cole and the Yankees’ elite bullpen can take it from there while the Rays’ pen tries to navigate the AL leader in RBI.

Cole didn’t pick up a win the last time he faced the Rays, but he did turn in a good outing. The ace pitched six innings and gave up only one run while striking out 10 hitters. He’s also at his best at home, where he has a 2.87 ERA over six starts in 2022. Overall, his team should find a way to win this one comfortably. 

Prediction: Yankees -1.5 (-104 at BetRivers)

Over/Under analysis

The Rays only scored one run over six innings in their last meeting with Cole, and they ended up scoring three runs. Don’t be surprised if this game is somewhat similar, with Cole shutting down Tampa Bay in the Bronx. The righty is going to be pitching angry after a miserable start in his last outing, and he’ll also have a lively arm after having thrown only 70 pitches. 

As for the Yankees, you can probably count on them to score at least four or five here, but Under bettors won’t be in serious danger of losing unless they do more damage than that. And Kluber has just not been bad enough this year to think that the Yankees are in for some type of offensive explosion. They’ll look a bit more like a normal team in this game. 

The Under is also 17-8 in the last 25 home games that the Yankees have played against teams with winning records. 

Prediction: Under 8 (-106 at Unibet)

Best bet

Cole is coming off one of the worst starts of the year, but sometimes you just need to throw something like that away and ignore it. Prior to that seven-run nightmare against the Twins, the righty had struck out nine or more batters in six of his previous eight games. He also happened to punch out 10 Rays in six innings when he faced them on May 28. 

Cole can clearly be a bit up and down — especially a little more than the Yankees would like with his contract — but he is still one of the game’s best pitchers when he is on. And Cole has elite swing-and-miss stuff, and this number just seems a little disrespectful for a pitcher of his caliber. He’ll have a fresh arm and be able to go deep, giving him ample opportunity to pad this number.  

Pick: Cole Over 8.5 strikeouts (+108 at FanDuel)

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