MLB Betting Preview: Three Divisional Battles To Bet On

• The New York Yankees are 1.5-run favorites over the Tampa Bay Rays in the Bronx Wednesday.
• The Philadelphia Phillies are +108 moneyline underdogs against the Washington Nationals who have -118 odds.
• The O/U total for the Chicago White Sox-Minnesota Twins matchup is 9.5.

CHICAGO – The MLB season is more than halfway over and the trade deadline is now in the rearview mirror. Now, teams look forward to positioning themselves for a playoff run.

MLB bettors have to be excited today as there are 14 games to sift through for betting action.

The MLB Playoffs are right around the corner and baseball bettors should have a feel for which clubs are pretenders or contenders.

Looking through the slate of games there are three divisional battles that bettors should hone their focus in on at USA sportsbooks.

The AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays (25-12) head north to take on the New York Yankees (20-14). Despite the Rays having a 3.5-game lead over the Yankees in the division, they’re underdogs on Wednesday.

The Yankees are favored to beat the Rays by 1.5-runs but the Rays have been a better team as of late. Taking the Rays +116 moneyline odds tonight is the best bet for this game as it’s not every day that a team with the best record in the American League is an underdog.

Furthermore, the Rays have won six of their last seven games SU against the Yankees.

For any New York supporters in this matchup, their SU odds to win tonight are -126. Lean towards taking the Rays SU odds as they are being disrespected as an underdog.

The O/U for this game is nine runs take the under here as this will be a low scoring affair. Winner: Tampa Bay Rays ML (+116), Under.

The NL East battle between the Washington Nationals (12-21) and the Philadelphia Phillies (16-15) is one to keep an eye on and not because these two teams are fighting for positioning in the NL East.

The pitching matchup between Max Scherzer (3-1, 3.86 ERA) and Zack Wheeler (3-0, 2.58 ERA) will keep this game low scoring so the 8.5 run total for this game will go Under.

The Nationals are favored to win by 1.5-runs even though they’re in the last place of their division. It’s hard to bet on the defending champion Nationals who haven’t been playing well recently (evident by their 2-8 record in the past 10 games) to hold off a Phillies team that is 7-3 in that same stretch.

The moneyline for this matchup is close as the Phillies are +108 underdogs and the Nationals have -118 odds.

Lean towards acting on the Phillies odds as they’re starting to hit their stride down coming out of the trade deadline. Winner: Philadelphia Phillies ML (+108), Under.

The Chicago White Sox (22-14) are looking to break a tie with the Cleveland Indians for sole possession of first place in the AL Central.

A win against the Minnesota Twins (21-16) on Wednesday would do just that.

However, sportsbooks have the Twins favored to come out with a win over the White Sox by 1.5-runs. The moneyline has the White Sox listed as +143 underdogs against the favored Twins with -155 odds.

Bettors should feel comfortable taking the White Sox to beat the Twins SU, but it will be a close game.

Both the White Sox and Twins have offenses that can take advantage of the opposing team's pitching so expect the 9.5-run total set for this game to go Over. Winner: White Sox (+143), Over.