MLB Betting Action – Niemann Gets Rays Back in Win Column vs White Sox

MLB betting action is back at BetOnline Sportsbook, and tonight, we’ve got the tussle between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Chicago White Sox covered!

The Sox are struggling right now at six games under .500. However, they have taken two out of three games in each of their L/2 series to renew some hope for a resurgence in the AL Central race.

The Rays are still licking their wounds from an awful three game set at home against the Red Sox earlier this week. Boston came into "The Trop" and absolutely dismantled the hosts for three games. That being said, Tampa Bay still has the best record in baseball by a country mile, and manager Joe Maddon will hope that this was more of a case of just a bad series than the start to a downward spiral for any long period of time.

Chicago White Sox (20-26, -$925) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (32-15, +$1,002)

Game Date/Time: Thursday, May 27th, 7:10 ET
Game Location: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL
TV/Radio Broadcast: Cox Sports, Sun Sports, XM

MLB Odds

Chicago White Sox           +1.5 -140      +155
(Fausto Carmona – L)
Tampa Bay Rays              -1.5 +120      -175
(Jeff Niemann – R)
Total                               8.5 O -115     8.5 U -105

Just two years ago, RHP Gavin Floyd was a legitimate Cy Young Award contender who won 17 games and pitched the ChiSox to the postseason. This year, something is most certainly wrong with him. Floyd is just 2-4 with a 6.31 ERA. He has allowed at least five earned runs in five of his nine starts.

The good news for White Sox backers is that his last outing was a great one. He held the Marlins to just six hits, two walks, and one run in 6.1 innings of work for his second ‘W’ of the season.

Against Tampa Bay, Floyd is 2-0 with a 3.21 ERA.

RHP Jeff Niemann is the man that will take the bump against Floyd for the Rays on Thursday. He has yet to allow more than three earned runs in a game this season, and is one of the few pitchers in baseball that can say that he has eight quality starts in a row under his belt. If not for that 1.1 inning outing against Baltimore to start the season in which he left injured, Niemann could be a perfect nine for nine.

Tampa Bay’s a $$$-Making 7-2 in games in which Niemann has started this year, earning a cool $338.

MLB Insider Tip: Tampa Bay is 11-9 against the White Sox dating back to the start of the 2008 season.

One would like to think that the team with the best record in baseball is going to turn it around at some point. This has the potential to be a great series for Tampa Bay, and the best thing that Maddon has going for him is the fact that he knows that he has a great starter heading to the mound every single day.

Niemann should get the Rays back in the win column in MLB betting action tonight.

My MLB Prediction: Tampa Bay Rays (Niemann)