Angels vs Rays Odds, Prediction | MLB Betting Pick & Preview

Don't look now, but the Los Angeles Angels are starting to play better baseball. They've won two of their last five — losing twice in one-run games — and will send Reid Detmers to the hill on Wednesday to try to take the series lead over the Rays. Can Detmers deliver against the tough Zack Littell, or will we see Tampa Bay ride the momentum of a walk-off win to a second straight victory?

Angels vs Rays odds odds have the Angels listed as short -105 favorites on the moneyline after they opened as +114 underdogs. The over/under is set at 8.5 runs and is the focus of my Angels vs Rays prediction, which you can find in my MLB betting preview for this game below.

The Angels are all the way up to 12th in wRC+ over the past week. They're suddenly getting meaningful contributions at the top of the order from Anthony Rendon and production at first base from veteran Miguel Sano, who may be stealing a job away from the struggling Nolan Schanuel.

The Angels may not be walking much, but against an expert in control like Littell, that shouldn't be a factor. The biggest thing here is that the Angels' strikeouts are slightly down while the power has been somewhat prevalent.

On the hill, L.A. should have a real shot with Detmers. The left-hander has slowly been developing into the pitcher everyone thought he could be when he debuted at 21 years old back in 2021.

This season, he's made another huge leap in the strikeout department, all the way to a silly 40.6%.

While he likely won't punch out that many hitters for the remainder of the season, his ground-ball rate has also risen significantly to 45.2%, and he's posted excellent quality-of-contact numbers.

Against a Rays team striking out at a pretty hefty 23% clip, the strikeouts will be a story worth watching, though Tampa is equally as competent against southpaws this season.

The Rays are also up to seventh when it comes to ground-ball rate, so Detmers should continue pitching to contact with success.

The Rays counter here with Littell, who has begun the season in excellent fashion as the team attempts to make him a full-time starting pitcher.

He did walk three last time out vs. the Angels in a surprising twist, but given his low walk rates over the last few years and the bizarre nature of the first few innings there, I wouldn't count on that happening again.

L.A. has been incredibly swing-happy this season and that should play much more into his higher-than-average fly-ball rate.

Tropicana Field hasn't exactly been friendly to home runs, ranking 20th in park factor from 2021-23. And while the Angels haven't hit a ton of fly balls this season, they do sit just outside the top six in home-run-to-fly-ball ratio.

With that said, though, in an unfriendly home run environment, it's hard to say Littell — who's posted excellent hard-hit and barrel rates through three starts — will have a ton of trouble.

This offense, as noted above, has hit a lot of ground balls to this point and has been roughly average in the strikeout department to match what we saw last season — though the numbers have crept up ever so slightly.

They haven't yet faced Detmers this season, but they did meet him last September and scored just one unearned run off of him, as he struck out seven over four frames.

Walks were something of a factor there, but Tampa Bay has taken very few to start 2024.

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These should be excellent conditions for both pitchers, against two offenses that have shown improvement but still lack production across the board to this point in the season.

The Angels really do their damage via the home run, and in a spacious park that doesn't reward them as much, I can't see them breaking this one open — particularly against a pitcher carrying very solid strikeout and walk rates.

On the flip side, I expect another big performance from Detmers against a Rays team trending the wrong way in the strikeout department. With his newfound ground-ball touch, he should roll up plenty against a Tampa Bay team keeping the ball out of the air.

I like the under here to eight runs.

Pick: Under 8.5 (Play to 8)