ACTION on pitchers. Team and situational edges clearly with the home team in this one – #966 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* New York Yankees -125 over Tampa Bay Rays, Friday at 7:05 PM ET – The Rays have nothing to play for here. The Yankees have everything to play for as they are still trying to lock up a wild card spot. New York is in a good spot but they still need another victory. Just because a team needs a win of course does not mean they get that win. But the fact is you have a very motivated Yankees team that has won 8 of 9 games against a Rays team that has lost 2 of 3 and has already locked up the #1 spot in the AL playoff seeding. New York starter Nestor Cortes has a 3.01 ERA this season as a starter and the Yankees are 10-3 in his starts including 5-1in his home starts. He was solid against the Rays in his lone starts against them this season. Shane McClanahan is 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA against the Yankees this season that easily could be higher too as he has allowed 14 hits and walked 5 in those two starts and this was in only 9 and 1 / 3 innings! Look for the Yankees to jump on McClanahan again in this one plus get a strong start from Cortes. It will be tough for the Rays to be very focused at the plate in this one while the Yankees will be locked in and have scored 5 or more runs in 8 straight games! Tampa Bay, on the other hand, has been held to scoring 3 runs or less in 3 of last 4 games. We have the slight starting pitching edge here but even taking the starting pitching out of the equation, the team edge plus overall situational edge both rest squarely with the red hot home team in this one. We will grab the home team at a very fair small favorite price on the money line in this one and bet New York Yankees -125