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The Rays just can’t stop winning.
Thanks primarily to a gem from Griffin Jax, who has successful transitioned back to the role of a starter, Tampa secured a series win on Tuesday with a 4-1 victory over the Orioles. The Rays’ .681 winning percentage isn’t just the best mark in the AL, it’s the best mark in all of baseball, which is a shocking result for a club that almost no one picked to reach the playoffs in 2026.
Can Tampa complete the sweep on Wednesday afternoon? Let’s break it all down and preview this AL East clash with a couple picks on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
It feels like Shane Baz will be the main character of today’s contest.
A former top prospect in the Rays’ system, Baz was traded to Baltimore this winter, then was extended by the Orioles to the tune of a five-year, $68 million contract. The return on investment has not been amazing so far. As always, Baz’s raw stuff is electric, but the results have been quite underwhelming. Across nine starts and 51.1 innings, Baz sports a 5.26 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP. Maybe more concerning is the complete lack of swing and miss from opponents. The 26-year-old’s 18.4% strikeout rate is easily a career-low, and a 17th percentile whiff rate (20.4%) unfortunately backs up that disappointing figure. Heck, in his last three outings, Baz nearly has as many walks allowed (11) and strikeouts (13). That’s never going to be a successful pitching formula at this level.
Now, it’s not like Tampa didn’t try and replace Baz in their rotation after he was dealt. In fact, the Rays spent some real money this offseason on the likes of Nick Martinez and Steven Matz, with the latter having recently found himself on the 15-day IL with an elbow issue. That’s necessitated the presence of Jesse Scholtens making starts — or at the very least, working as a “bulk” option behind an opener — but with Matz being reinstated this morning, that’s now a thing of the past. Matz did not go on a rehab assignment, which means his last pitch was thrown back on May 3 against the Giants, in a game where the veteran LHP went six innings and allowed just a single earned run. For 2026 as a whole, Matz has been fine enough, though his 4.83 FIP is almost a full-run higher than his 3.86 ERA. That’s simply a reflection of an unsustainable .218 opponent BABIP.
If regression or rust is an issue for Matz on Wednesday, Tampa will need to rely a little bit extra on it’s surprisingly effective lineup. Despite sitting dead-last in the league in hard hit rate (33.0%), barrel rate (4.7%) and expected slugging percentage (.364), Tampa is in possession of the fourth-best offense in the month of May by wRC+ (116). That’s mainly due to a league-high .284 batting average within that span. Is this sustainable? That’s unclear. However, don’t immediately dismiss this roster as a collection of Chandler Simpson types. The truth of the matter is that Yandy Diaz, Junior Caminero and Jonathan Aranda are really, really good at hitting. If that trio is pulling their weight at the top of the order, this is a scary group.
Baz has gone under this prop in five of his nine starts this season. I have my doubts he’ll be able to rack up the strikeouts in a matchup with the Rays, who enter play on Wednesday with the league’s highest contact rate (82.9%).
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