Snell Will Give No Love To His Ex

Rays vs. Padres, 7:15 ET

If you had an ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend, and you had the opportunity to beat them in some sort of competition postbreakup, you probably would go all out to do it, right? Sometimes that pain heals and you don't care as much, but sometimes it fuels you to perform even better. Today we see Blake Snell pitching against his ex, the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rays are still the best team in baseball, however, it is closer than it was a month ago. They made it to 50 wins before anyone else even made it to 45 wins. They are pitching well, hitting with an outstanding rate, and even hitting more home runs than I expected them to do. Still, they can't ease up because the Orioles are hot on their heels and even the Yankees, Blue Jays, and to a lesser extend, Red Sox, are all at least within a couple of really good weeks to get close to the top of the standings. Tonight, they send out Zach Elfin to the mound. He's the owner of a 3.28 ERA which is great, but he has had some struggles on the road. He has a 5.53 road ERA. He's allowed at least three earned runs on the road in all of his past four starts. They are just 3-2 in Elfin's road starts.

The Rays have played great, but may have a hard time hitting a dialed in Blake Snell.

The Padres are one of those disappointing teams that I can't seem to put my finger on why they are so disappointing. Is it the hitting? Kind of, they can't seem to get a good streak together and no one on the team is really hitting the way he is fully capable of. The pitching isn't quite up to par with the glory that some of the rotation names hold. Have there been injury issues? Sure, but what team hasn't had issues? This team being in fourth within the division is absurd. Maybe they are going to turn it around tonight with Blake Snell. Snell has a decent overall ERA (3.78), but he has struggled at home with a 4.60 ERA. One encouraging sign is that over his past three starts he has allowed one earned run over 19 innings with six walks, eight hits, and 27 strikeouts. Maybe he is finding his form at the right time. The problem is he is fairly unpredictable.

Here's the best piece of advice for this game, if it is an under, the Padres probably win because Snell hurls another masterpiece. If the game is an over, the Rays likely win. I'm not putting a double play on this game, but I will take the Padres, with Snell, at home, through five innings. The last time Snell was on the Rays, he was removed from a World Series game he shouldn't have been taken out of. He can get some mild form of revenge tonight.

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