T.M. Selection: Tampa Bay Rays.

I like the Tampa Bay Rays to win this game against the New York Yankees on Monday. The Rays just lost their most recent series to the Orioles over the weekend and that is a really bad look on them but even worse, they were swept by the Yankees in a road series right before that. I think the Rays are going to be looking to bounce back here though and now that they are back in their own ballpark for this series, I expect a better effort from them wanting to get revenge on the Yankees here. The Yankees have been really hot lately but just had their 9 game win streak ended by the Blue Jays yesterday, and I think the Rays can make it 2 losses in a row here. Gerrit Cole (6-1, 3.33 ERA) is up for the Yankees here and he just had a really good start where he didn't give up a run but he also has had some really bad starts this year and it has been more of a common theme for him than some of their other starting pitchers in the rotation. Cole has been dealing with issues all year on gripping the ball, he has already made 2 really good starts against the Rays this year and I think they are finally going to put up some runs on him here. He started in 1 of the games last week and I don't expect him to have another outing like that against the same team in such a short period of time. Shane McClanahan (7-3, 1.84 ERA) is up for the Rays here and he has been great all year with no bad starts. He has only been charged with 3 earned runs 2 times this year and those were his worst starts of the year. He pitched well against the Yankees last week but did give up some hits and I expect him to come with a better gameplan to throw the Yankee batters off. I like the Rays to win this game.

T.M. Prediction: 4-2 Rays.