The Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays launch a five-game set Thursday for a spot in the American League Championship Series.
Boston will throw Eduardo Rodriguez (4.47 ERA but with a 3.19 ERA in his last seven starts) while Tampa trots out Shane McClanahan (3.01 ERA since June).
The two teams have met twice before in the playoffs — most recently in 2013, when the Red Sox took down Tampa 3-1. Boston won the World Series that year.
In 2008, the Rays took down the Red Sox four games to three in Tampa's first-ever playoff appearance. Pitcher Matt Garza put on a legendary performance in Game 7 — enough to win ALCS MVP honors — and David Price recorded a save, which is still the only one of his career.
Bettors are riding that history and rivalry by hammering this series — and the series' player props.
The three most popular player props for Game 1 of this series at PointsBet are on:
1.) Hunter Renfroe to record a hit (-240)
2.) Nelson Cruz to hit a home run (+350)
3.) Randy Arozarena to record a hit (-210)
Renfroe nabbed a hit in 97 out of the 144 games (67%) he played in this season. The -240 he's given implies a probability of 70.6%.
Nelson Cruz has hit a home run in 11 of the 53 games (21%) he's started for the Rays since he was traded to the AL East champions in July. His +350 odds imply a 22% chance.
The Rays are -175 favorites to take Game 1. That moneyline has 62% of the total money. It had opened -160.
The Red Sox had led this division until August, until the Rays usurped them and never looked back. Tampa had been +140 underdogs to win the AL East as recently as trade deadline day on July 31.
The Rays to win the series at -175 has about 83.5% of the total handle.
