Rangers vs. Giants prediction and odds for Friday, Aug. 11 (Bet the OVER)

The Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants are battling for playoff position in their respective leagues heading into Friday night's matchup. 

Texas is in first place in the AL West, but it has just a 2.5-game lead over the Houston Astros. 

The team would love to close the season strong and lock in a division title, as it would almost certainly avoid the wild card round since the AL Central division has been so weak in 2023. 

Meanwhile, the Giants are in a wild card race in the NL West, sitting in the No. 2 wild card spot and 6.5 games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the division. 

This is a huge series, but Friday’s pitching matchup leaves a little to be desired. 

Jon Gray (7-5, 3.72 ERA) gets the ball for Texas against San Francisco opener Scott Alexander (6-2, 4.01 ERA). 

Here are the odds and how to bet on this matchup on Friday:  

Rangers vs. Giants odds, run line and total

Rangers vs. Giants prediction and pick

This matchup has “Bet the OVER” written all over it. 

The Rangers are the No. 2 offense in terms of OPS in Major League Baseball this season, and while the Giants are struggling as of late (28th in OPS in the 15 days), they have a matchup that they could take advantage of tonight. 

Gray’s season long numbers look fine, but he’s overachieving based on his Fielding Independent Pitching, which is all the way up at 4.26 this season. 

In eight starts since June 18, Gray has been ineffective, posting a 6.30 ERA over that stretch and allowing four or more runs in six of those starts. 

He could be a pitcher that the Giants are able to bounce back against, but I don’t trust Alexander in this game either. 

In his last outing, Alexander gave up three runs without recording an out, and he’s given up five earned runs in three appearances (1.2 innings) as an opener this season. 

Not only that, but the Giants bullpen (3.62 ERA) is going to be asked to do a lot in this matchup against the No. 2 offense in baseball. 

With the total set at 8.5 runs, I’ll gladly take the OVER in the final game on Friday night.  

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.