Vegas Play of the Day: Royals at Rays

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Monday, July 7, 2014 | 10:25 a.m.

Here’s the latest installment of the Play of the Day, which uses odds from the South Point. Our three sports writers started with a $10,000 bankroll — fictional, of course.

Tampa Bay Rays (-120) vs. Kansas City Royals: $600 to win $500 : Tampa Bay went from having baseball’s worst record to being eight games out of the wild card race in less than two weeks. The Rays were expected to be out of contention after a 12-game road trip to Baltimore, New York and Detroit.

But they posted a 9-3 record on the trip to bring life to their season. They are arguably baseball’s hottest team. And, more importantly, they are playing with confidence.

Baseball is all about betting winning streaks. I’ll gladly ride the good play until it ends.

Also, Kansas City starter James Shields has disappointed over the past month, giving up 25 earned runs in 36 innings of his last six starts since June 3. He blames the poor performances on mechanical flaws — something, as a bettor, I love to hear. Now, in addition to battling the Rays, Shields is battling himself.

Standings: Bern (33-24-1, $12,019), Keefer (29-34, $8,926), Brewer (23-35-3, $2,985)

Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21.