MLB Baseball
2026-07-31 - Chicago White Sox at Tampa Bay Rays
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : Major League Baseball
Friday 31st July 2026 - Scheduled 7:10pm EST
12:10am (British Time)
Preview
After recovering to win the final two games of the four game set with the New York Yankees, the American League Central leading Chicago White Sox (57-51) have a 2 game lead over the Cleveland Guardians in the Division. They also did the Tampa Bay Rays (64-44) a favour by helping them open up a 3.5 game lead over the Yankees in the American League East as these two Divisional leaders prepare to begin a series in Florida.
The Rays have already swept the Chicago White Sox on the road earlier this season and they have won five of the last six games overall, including a sweep of the aforementioned Guardians.
The trade deadline is coming up at the end of the weekend and both teams could be active, but the rosters can feel pretty relaxed about things and that should help them perform as well as they can in this latest series as the regular season continues to move into the final run.
Tampa Bay will give the ball to Nick Martinez who has a 10-2 record and 2.45 ERA in twenty starts this season- no one could have expected this kind of season from a veteran pitcher, especially after the dip in level with the Cincinnati Reds in 2025.
Back in early June, the Detroit Tigers managed to get after Nick Martinez and hand him his second decision defeat of the season, but he is now unbeaten in eight starts and has a 5-0 record with a 2.70 ERA in that run. In four July starts, Nick Martinez has allowed just four runs in almost 23 Innings thrown and he will be looking for one more big outing to round out the month.
Nick Martinez did not pitch against the Chicago White Sox earlier this season, but he did throw 7 Innings without giving up a run against them in 2025 with the Cincinnati Reds.
The White Sox will counter through Erick Fedde who has a 5-6 record and 4.25 ERA in twenty-one appearances for Chicago, although ten of those have been out of the bullpen.
Erick Fedde is unbeaten in six starts for the Chicago White Sox and is getting ready for a third straight start on Friday. He has allowed five runs in a little over 8 Innings thrown in the previous two starts and Erick Fedde has struggled to move through the batting lineup as many times as the Chicago White Sox may have hoped.
He is another pitcher that did not make an appearance in the earlier series between these Divisional leaders.
Prediction
Both teams have some momentum heading into this series, but the upper management personnel may be thinking about how to improve the roster to make a serious push for the World Series.
The trade deadline is coming up on Monday and so those involved will be busy, but the players can focus on their own jobs with both the Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago White Sox in a position to reach the post-season.
The Rays have the edge in this opening game thanks to a surprising starting pitcher and they can do enough to make it six wins from seven and continue their dominance of the Chicago White Sox in 2026.
The Pick :
Tampa Bay Rays 5-1 Chicago White Sox
