Heading into Thursday’s play, two teams in the AL are over 500. One is the New York Yankees. The other is the Tampa Bay Rays, who are at Fenway Park on Thursday to open a series with the Red Sox. The Rays will be up against it as they are going with opener Griffin Jax. He has allowed 11 runs in 14 innings.
Pitching like that in Boston will get a pitcher lit up. The Red Sox are going with Jake Bennett, who was impressive in five innings of five-hit ball in his first outing. MLB odds have Boston at -125 and Tampa Bay at +114. The total is 8½.