Two teams projected to be in the AL Wild Card mix in the AL East will face each other on Friday evening when the Toronto Blue Jays travel to St. Petersburg, Florida, to face the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. The game is scheduled to start at 6:50 PM ET and will air on the MLB Network.

The Toronto Blue Jays were a wild-card team in the American League last season after finishing with a record of 89-73. This resulted in a third-place finish in the AL East behind the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays. 

The Blue Jays looked dominant in game one of the series on Thursday afternoon, and their last batter in the batting order, Cavan Biggio, played a pivotal role in the win as he reached base on all four of his bats with two walks and two hits with one of the hits being a home run. Jose Berrios also had a successful Opening Day as the starting pitcher for the Blue Jays, allowing two runs while recording six strikeouts in six innings pitched. 

Cole Bassitt pitched well against the Rays last season, compiling a record of 2-1 in his previous three starts against Tampa Bay while allowing six runs and striking out 21 batters in the three appearances. The Toronto Blue Jays will look for another dominant day from their bats on Friday evening when they face the Tampa Bay Rays on the road.

The Tampa Bay Rays had the best record in the American League for the majority of the season before faltering late in the year and finishing as a Wild Card team in the AL with a record of 99-63 and were eliminated in the Wild Card round of the AL Playoffs by the eventual World Series Champions, the Texas Rangers, 0-2. 

The Rays had a winning record in each month last season except for July, in which they went 8-16, losing nine of 12 at home and seven of 12 on the road. Zach Eflin had a rough start to the 2024 MLB season, allowing six earned runs while only striking out five batters in 5 ? innings pitched. The Rays recorded eight hits against the Blue Jays but were only able to score two runs, as they left five batters in scoring position throughout the game. 

Tampa Bay will look to bounce back following the loss on Opening Day at home when they host the Toronto Blue Jays in game two of the series on Friday evening.

WagerWeb lists the Tampa Bay Rays as -120 moneyline favorites at home against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday evening. Toronto entered game one of the series, losing the previous two meetings against Tampa Bay after losing the regular season finale 1-2 at home. However, Toronto looked dominant against the Rays on Thursday afternoon, allowing two runs while recording eight runs in the win.

The last few meetings of the series have featured high-scoring affairs as the teams have combined for ten or more runs in six straight games and have averaged 14 runs per game. I don’t expect the Rays to leave five runners in scoring position in the game on Friday. I look for the bats to stay hot for the Blue Jays, which is why I am taking over eight runs in game two of the series on Friday evening, as the last 11 meetings in the series have gone over eight runs in 10 of the 11 with the other game totaling eight runs.