Tampa Bay Rays at Toronto Blue Jays 9/15/22 - MLB Picks & Predictions

AL East Division rivals will square off on Thursday afternoon, when the Tampa Bay Rays take on the Toronto Blue Jays from the Rogers Centre. The Rays (79-63) are seven games below .500 on the road and hold a four-game lead over Baltimore in the race for the final AL Wild Card spot. Last night, Tampa Bay went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base during a 5-1 road loss against Toronto.

All-Star SP Shane McClanahan (11-5 2.20 ERA) will come off the 15-day injured list to start for the Rays. Through 147 plus innings, McClanahan has struck out 182 batters and ranks second in the American League with a 0.86 WHIP.

The Toronto Blue Jays have won 41 of their 71 home games and trail New York by 5.5 games for first place. On Wednesday, Toronto SP Ross Stripling (8-4) limited Tampa Bay to three hits and one run across six plus frames to earn the win. All-Star 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his 100th career home run for the Blue Jays, who improved to 81-62 on the season.

The Blue Jays will give the nod to hard-throwing righty Kevin Gausman (12-9 3.31 ERA) on Thursday. Last time out, Gausman gave up five runs in five plus innings during an 11-7 road victory against Texas.