MLB Best Bets for Tonight: Yankees & Rays | Monday, May 16th

MLB Best Bets for Tonight: Yankees and Rays cover the run line

Tonight, MLB teams begin new series after wrapping up their weekend contests. With the season underway, there has been a clear distinction between teams in four tiers: the contenders, the playoff teams, the bubble teams, and the "better luck next year" teams. We will be targeting the opponents of two teams who fall into the bottom tier.

Below, you will find two of the best bets for tonight's slate of MLB games.

Bet #1: New York Yankees -1.5 (-120) vs. the Baltimore Orioles

"8 Straight Series Wins" - @ New York Yankees

The New York Yankees have won 11 out of their last 12 games. They have also covered the run line of 1.5 runs in nine of those 11 wins. Tonight, they will travel to take on the Baltimore Orioles in a four-game series.

The Yankees will start Luis Severino, who is 2-0 with a 4.08 ERA so far this season. The Orioles will send Kyle Bradish to the mound. Bradish has a 1-1 record this season and has a 4.24 ERA through three starts.

The New York Yankees offense has been clicking as of late, ranking fifth in the MLB with 4.91 runs per game. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have led the way for New York, where they both rank in the top five in the American League in home runs and runs batted in.

The Orioles offense has seen the opposite production, as they rank 29th out of 30 MLB teams scoring 3.26 runs per game. The Yankees are the more talented, hotter team right now, and have played a lot better competition as of late. We're riding with the Yankees to win this contest by 2+ runs.

Bet #2: Tampa Bay Rays -1.5 (+105) vs. the Detroit Tigers

"We love a series win over Toronto" - @ Tampa Bay Rays

In their last 10 games, the Tampa Bay Rays have played some pretty mediocre baseball. Their 6-4 record isn't that impressive, until you look at their competition. In the last three series, the Rays have played three potential playoff teams, the Seattle Mariners, the Toronto Blue Jays, and the LA Angels.

The Detroit Tigers are coming off a three-game sweep over the Baltimore Orioles, but considering the Orioles aren't very good, that's not extremely impressive. Alex Faedo will start his third career MLB game for the Tigers tonight. In his previous two starts, Faedo gave up two earned runs to both the Athletics and Pirates, who rank in the bottom 10 in team offense.

In terms of runs per game, the Rays are putting up 4.17 runs per nine innings, and the Tigers rank dead last in the MLB with 2.86 runs per game. The two factors that should play the biggest role in the outcome of this game are bullpen performance and hitting with runners in scoring position. The Rays should do both of these better than Detroit tonight. We're going with the Rays to win this game by two or more!