White Sox vs. Rangers prediction and odds for Tuesday, Aug. 1 (Fade bad bullpens)

This could be the last stand for the Texas Rangers and their hold on the top spot in the AL West. The Houston Astros are coming and are only a half game back after Texas was swept by San Diego this weekend.

The 43-64 Chicago White Sox will be in town for three games this week and the Rangers will be looking to maintain their division lead by winning all three. 

Texas comes in at 60-46 with Andrew Heaney on the mound for the first of three. Heaney is 7-6 with a 4.62 ERA in 20 starts for the Rangers this year.

Chicago will counter with Jesse Scholtens who has made two starts and 14 relief appearances this year and has worked to a 1-3 record and 3.32 ERA. 

The Rangers need to get a win and they’re the favorites at home today. Let’s check out those odds. 

White Sox vs. Rangers odds, run line and total

White Sox vs. Rangers prediction and pick

After getting swept, the Rangers have some good news; they get to face Chicago’s bullpen. Scholten has the ability to give a little bit of length, but he’s an opener and this is a bullpen game.

The Chicago bullpen is 25th in the MLB in ERA this year at 4.63. In July, as a pitching staff they also slotted into the 25 spot with an even worse 4.92 ERA. 

Scholten shouldn’t want to become a starter because extended exposure won’t be a good thing. It never is when you have a FIP much higher than your ERA. A big reason that the extra innings won’t be a good thing is his very low strikeout rate with just 23 in 38.0 innings and a high walk rate with 12. 

The Rangers aren’t as good offensively without Corey Seager, but they will be able to give Heaney some run support today behind Nathaniel Lowe and the rest of their hitters.

Lowe posted an OPS just over 1.000 in July. However, Heaney could still be in trouble with his 5.19 FIP. Heaney also hasn’t been going deep into starts and Texas has a bullpen that is somehow even worse than Chicago’s. The Rangers relievers have a combined ERA of 4.83 this year which ranks 27th in the MLB. 

Two bad bullpens that will need to cover at least four or five innings apiece is the recipe for an over. That’s my best bet tonight. 

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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change