The Rays (76-50) and the Blue Jays (62-66) wrap up their three-game series this afternoon in St. Petersburg.
The teams have split the first two games of this series with Tampa winning last night, 7-6. Yandy Diaz cracked a two-run homer in the first to pace the attack and Drew Rasmussen was good enough to earn his sixth straight win as the Rays won for the ninth time in twelve games against the Jays this season. Alejandro Kirk continues to swing a hot bat for the Jays. The backstop went yard for the second straight game and extended his hitting streak to eight games in the process (14-33). Even with the loss yesterday, the Jays are 7-3 in their last ten games and just a game back of the final Wild Card spot. The Rays continue to set the pace in the AL East and the entire American League. They own the best record in the AL and lead the division by five games over the Yankees.
This afternoon, Toronto is expected to hand the ball to veteran Shane Bieber (4-2, 4.99 ERA) and Ian Seymour (9-3, 4.11 ERA) gets the start for Tampa Bay. Bieber’s season has been a roller coaster. The former AL Cy Young winner has shown flashes of the pitcher who dominated hitters earlier in his career, but consistency has been elusive. Specifically over his last four starts, Bieber has allowed one earned run twice but four and five runs respectively in the other two starts. The optimists in the crowd will put more faith in his most recent start. Last Friday, Bieber allowed just four hits and one run over six innings against the Yankees. Seymour has been dependable for the Rays this season. He has finished six innings over four of his last five starts. Seymour has allowed eight earned runs in 28.2 innings across those five starts. He has struck out 36 over those last five appearances.
Lets dive further into tonight’s game and find a sweat or two.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch first pitch, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Game Details and How to Watch: Blue Jays vs. Rays
- Date: Thursday, August 20, 2026
- Time: 1:10PM EST
- Site: Tropicana Field
- City: St. Petersburg, FL
- Network/Streaming: MLB.TV, Sportsnet, Rays.TV
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The Latest Odds: Blue Jays vs. Rays
The latest odds as of Thursday courtesy of DraftKings:
- Moneyline: Toronto Blue Jays (+152), Tampa Bay Rays (-163)
- Spread: Blue Jays +1.5 (-152), Rays -1.5 (+125)
- Total: 7.5 runs
Probable Starting Pitchers – Blue Jays vs. Rays for August 20
- Blue Jays: Shane Bieber
Season Totals: 48.2 IP, 4-2, 4.99 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, 37K, 24 BB - Rays: Ian Seymour
Season Totals: 96.1 IP, 9-3, 4.11 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 115K, 31 BB
Who’s Hot? Who’s Not! Blue Jays vs. Rays
- Jonathan Aranda, Junior Caminero, and Cedric Mullins have each gone yard once in their careers against Shane Bieber
- Ernie Clement is 4-11 in his career against Ian Seymour
- Andres Gimenez and Alejandro Kirk have each homered against Seymour in their respective careers
- Yandy Diaz has hit in 10 straight games (19-43)
- Chandler Simpson has also hit in 10 straight games (19-44)
- Andres Gimenez saw his four-game hitting streak snapped last night (0-4)
- Alejandro Kirk has hit safely in 8 straight games (14-33) including 3 HRs and 9 RBIs
- Kazuma Okamoto has hit in 5 straight games (5-19)
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Top Betting Trends & Insights: Blue Jays vs. Rays
- The Jays are 62-66 on the Run Line this season
- The Rays are 71-55 on the Run Line this season
- The OVER has cashed 64 times in Toronto’s 128 games this season (64-60-4)
- The OVER has cashed 58 times in Tampa’s 126 games this season (58-63-5)
Expert picks & predictions: Blue Jays vs. Rays
Rotoworld Bet Best Bet
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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for today’s game between the Jays and the Rays:
- Moneyline: Rotoworld Bet is staying away from a play on the Moneyline.
- Spread: Rotoworld Bet is leaning towards a play on the Rays on the Run Line.
- Total: Rotoworld Bet is leaning towards a play on the Game Total OVER 7.5
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