New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 6/20/2022

Time: 7:10 p.m. ET

Venue: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL

Where to watch: YES, Bally Sports Sun

DraftKings: Yankees -135, Rays +115

BetMGM: Yankees -135, Rays +110

Caesars: Yankees -130, Rays +110

Yankees: 49-17

Rays: 36-30

The American League East this season has been a weird one. Yes, a one-team race that has more than anything dominated at a ridiculous pace. What the New York Yankees have been able to do this season has been impressive, albeit expected, and has caused everyone to ask, "What's taken so long?" Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays have fallen off a great deal since winning the AL East a year ago and now I think it's fair to wonder if Kevin Cash's job is on the line.

The two teams will meet to start a three-game series on Monday in St. Petersburg and this might be the biggest series of the season for the struggling Rays, who come in having lost five of six and seven of nine since their three-game sweep on the St. Louis Cardinals. The Yankees, who have been the best team in baseball this entire season, lost just for the second time since May 29 on Sunday in a 10-9 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, and now find themselves one win from becoming the first to hit 50 this season.

And for the Yankees, it took the Blue Jays a five-run rally to come back and knock off the Yankees on Sunday afternoon with a 10-9 win. The Yankees led 8-3 in the sixth before Lourdes Gurriel hit a grand slam, and Teoscar Hernandez eventually hit a game-winning three-run homer.

“This was going to be an easy win, that’s what I thought,” Yankees right-hander Luis Severino said. “You know, it’s not over until it’s over. They made a great comeback.”

The Yankees got homers from five different players, including Josh Donaldson in his return to Toronto. Severino struck out nine in five innings of work with 102 pitches to his credit. The bullpen just collapsed at the worst possible time.

"For me, it's going to be tough because I feel like I could do more for this team," Severino said. "I could have gone six, I could have gone seven."

Just two losses in a month can't be seen as a negative for this group, no matter how talented and stacked the lineup is. Nothing will matter for the Yankees until they actually perform in the playoffs and get back to the World Series. Being 49-17 is good, but again, it's expected that they should get this far.

The Rays, meanwhile, need help. They're sitting third place in the AL East right now and are coming off losing two of three to the Baltimore Orioles over the weekend. Losing to the Orioles isn't considered a problem anymore, considering they're now 30-38 and not completely horrible.

Corey Kluber went six innings and struck out six, once again looking like his former self from his Cleveland days. Unfortunately, Kleber fell to 3-4.

“(Kluber) was so good again for us,” Kevin Cash said. “It's just irritating and frustrating all at the same time not being able to help him out a little bit. We swung the bats okay but we have to piece together some bigger innings than what we're doing here as of late.”

The good news for the Rays is Shane McClanahan is on the mound for this one, but he'll be going against Gerrit Cole. Normally, Cole isn't someone you'd want to face having won six of seven decisions, but Cole is coming off going just 2.1 innings and allowing seven runs in Minnesota. He responded with seven strikeouts in six scoreless innings against the Rays last week. He'll need to do that again against a red-hot McClanahan.

This is starting to become must-win territory for the Rays; not for their playoff prospects, but the status of Cash. There haven't been rumblings he'll be let go, but surely with the climate in Philadelphia and Anaheim, falling farther behind the Blue Jays and Yankees can't be a good thing. I think McClanahan will show up for this first game and bounce back against the Yankees after losing last Wednesday. Rays win 5-4

The Yankees are 16-8 as a road favorite this season.

Yankees are 24-10 against division opponents this season.

Rays are 95-53 against division opponents the past three seasons.

Rays are 25-14 when McClanahan starts the past three seasons.

Yankees:
DJ LeMahieu (R) 1B
Aaron Judge (R) CF
Josh Donaldson (R) 3B
Giancarlo Stanton (R) DH
Gleyber Torres (R) 2B
Aaron Hicks (S) LF
Kyle Higashioka (R) C
Marwin Gonzalez (S) SS
Joey Gallo (L) RF
SP - Gerrit Cole

Rays:
Kevin Kiermaier (L) CF
Manuel Margot (R) RF
Yandy Diaz (R) 3B
Ji-Man Choi (L) DH
Randy Arozarena (R) LF
Harold Ramirez (R) 1B
Taylor Walls (S) SS
Isaac Paredes (R) 2B
Francisco Mejia (S) C
SP - Shane McClanahan

Batting average: Aaron Judge -- .305

Home runs: Aaron Judge -- 25

RBI: Aaron Judge -- 50

Wins: Jameson Taillon -- 8

ERA: Nestor Cortes -- 1.94

Batting average: Yandy Diaz -- .275

Home runs: Kevin Kiermaier -- 7

RBI: Ji-Man Choi -- 34

Wins: Shane McClanahan -- 7

ERA: Shane McClanahan -- 1.84