It wasn't a good weekend for the Texas Rangers who dropped two of three games to the Aaron Judge-less Yankees in the Bronx, so they'll be happy to be back home for a four-game set with the Detroit Tigers. The Rangers still hold a comfortable lead in the AL West at 47-30 while the Tigers are not entirely out of it in the Central, somehow 5.5 games back at 33-43.
The series will kick off with two lefties on the mound, Matthew Boyd and Andrew Heaney. Boyd is 5-5 with a 5.37 ERA and Heaney is 5-4 with a 3.98 ERA. The bigger discrepancy between these two teams is at the plate not on the mound and the bats are why the Rangers are favorites at home tonight.
Tigers vs. Rangers odds, run line and total
Tigers vs. Rangers prediction and pick
The Tigers have had moments this year where their offense looked just good enough to get by, but June has not been one of those moments. Without Riley Greene in the lineup they are lost and their 80 runs this month rank 24th in the MLB. Their top four players in terms of at-bats this month are Spencer Torkelson, Javier Baez, Zach McKinstry, and Nick Maton. Those four players have OPS's of .620, .666, .454, and .499. That's really all you need to know about the Tigers.
The Rangers on the other hand have been great at the plate in June and against lefties for the season have an OPS of .822 which is second in the league and they've managed that while only being 10th in the league in home runs against lefties, so it's not like the longball is juicing their slugging percentage.
One of the only teams in baseball hitting worse than the Tigers this month is the Yankees who just beat the Rangers twice, but that was with Luis Severino and Gerrit Cole on the mound, not Matthew Boyd. I'm backing Texas to win big at home.
Follow all Josh Yourish's bets HERE
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change