Astros at Rays Prediction: Odds, expert picks, starting pitchers, betting trends and stats for May 21

Its Wednesday, May 21 and the Astros (25-23) are in Tampa to take on the Rays (22-26).

Hunter Brown is slated to take the mound for Houston against Taj Bradley for Tampa Bay.

The Rays earned a 3-2 win last night to square the series at one game apiece. Tampa scored two in the eighth on a single from Jonathan Aranda to tie the game and then won it in the ninth on a walk-off sacrifice fly from Taylor Walls.

Lets dive into this afternoon’s matchup and find a sweat or two.

We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch tipoff, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.

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Game details & how to watch Astros at Rays

• Date: Wednesday, May 21, 2025
• Time: 1:10PM EST
• Site: George M. Steinbrenner Field
• City: Tampa, FL
• Network/Streaming: SCHN, FDSNSUN

Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.

Odds for the Astros at the Rays

The latest odds as of Wednesday:

• Moneyline: Astros (-137), Rays (+116)
• Spread: Astros -1.5
• Total: 9.0 runs

Probable starting pitchers for Astros at Rays

• Pitching matchup for May 21, 2025: Hunter Brown vs. Taj Bradley
  • Astros: Hunter Brown (6-2, 1.43 ERA)
    Last outing: 5/15 at Texas – 8IP, 1ER, 3H, 0BB, 9Ks
  • Rays: Taj Bradley (3-3, 4.80 ERA)
    Last outing: 5/16 at Miami – 4IP, 5ER, 6H, 3BB, 6Ks

Rotoworld still has you covered with all the latest MLB player news for all 30 teams. Check out the feed page right here on NBC Sports for headlines, injuries and transactions where you can filter by league, team, positions and news type!

Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Astros at Rays

• With the win last night, the Rays snapped a 6-game losing streak to the Astros
• Each of the Astros’ last 7 road games with the Rays have stayed under the Total
• Isaac Paredes is riding a modest 5-game hitting streak (6-20) which includes a pair of home runs and 6 RBIs

If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!

Expert picks & predictions for Wednesday’s game between the Astros and the Rays

Rotoworld Best Bet

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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.

Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.

Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Wednesday’s game between the Astros and the Rays:

• Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the Houston Astros on the Moneyline.
• Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Houston Astros at -1.5.
• Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the over on the Game Total of 9.0.

Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page from NBC

Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff:

• Jay Croucher (@croucherJD)
• Drew Dinsick (@whale_capper)
• Vaughn Dalzell (@VmoneySports)
• Brad Thomas (@MrBradThomas)