Rays Begin Series with Angels

Two of the American League’s top dogs square off in Anaheim with the Tampa Bay Rays (18-11) playing the Los Angeles Angels (19-11).

Tampa Bay has been playing good baseball of late winning six of their first seven on a 10-game road trip. They will finish up the road trip with three games against the Angels before heading back home

Jeffrey Springs will make his fourth career start as he looks to solidly himself as a starter in the Rays rotation. Springs has been deployed as a starter over his last three outings and posts a 0.69 ERA in 2022. He has yet to exceed four innings in any start as he continues to get acclimated as a starter. Expect a similar result today.

The Angels will have Noah Syndergaard on the mound. Despite velocity and whiff rate plummeting after Tommy John, Syndergaard has found success since his move to Anaheim. He’s currently posting a 2.63 ERA with a walk rate of 5.2%

The Angels’ offense has hit the ground running to start 2022, they’re hitting .241/.322/.405, put up a 118 wRC+ and have scored the most runs in baseball with 139. The Angels lineup consists of a former MVP Mike Trout, reigning MVP Shohei Ohtani and Taylor Ward who burst onto the scene hitting 364/.490/.675 and putting up a 243 wRC+.

Where The Rays Stand

Tampa Bay currently sits 2.5 games back in a competitive AL East. They will look to pick up some quality wins vs a tough opponent.