Admittedly the Oakland Athletics and the Tampa Bay Rays are far from being legitimate contenders in their respective division races. But at least there’s a little intrigue in the pitching matchup for Friday night’s game, which will begin at 10:10 PM ET at Oakland Coliseum. BetAnySports customers are going to be able to wager on this game even after the first pitch is thrown, as they take advantage of all that Live Betting Ultra has to offer.

Make no mistake about it – these are teams that are bringing up the rear. The low-budget Rays are at 38-57 and 17 games behind in the American League East, while the low-budget Athletics are 42-54 and are trailing the Texas Rangers in the AL West by 13 games.

Taking the mound for the Rays is 26-year-old right-hander Jake Odorizzi (4-5, 4.39), while the A’s counter with Sean Manaea (3-5, 5.13), who is a southpaw.

If there is a “hot” team here, it is Tampa Bay, which has won three games in a row, including a 7-3 victory in the opener of this four-game series on Thursday.

In the MLB odds that have been posted on this game at BetAnySports, the Rays are favorites on the road:

Tampa Bay Rays (Odorizzi – R) -114

Oakland Athletics (Manaea – L) +104

Over 8 Runs -115

Under 8 Runs -105

Rays -1.5 Runs +145

Athletics +1.5 Runs -165

Manaea is a rookie that the A’s have been very high on, but he did not get off to an auspicious start in the big leagues. In fact, he was pounded pretty good and had an 11.37 ERA after his first three appearances. We’d like to say he’s shown some signs of life, but that hasn’t been the case with any real consistency. Manaea, a first-round draft pick for Kansas City in 2013 out of Indiana State, has had the occasional solid start but he has not often put together two really good outings in a row – until perhaps his last two. He had seven scoreless innings in a regularly-scheduled start against the Houston Astros, and then he had to come into a game on Sunday against Toronto when both Rich Hill AND Andrew Triggs got injured in the first inning. He wound up going five and allowing two runs in what was a commendable effort. No doubt BetAnySports patrons noticed that the fact that Oakland lost both of those games was more a function of their lack of offense (just four runs scored over those two games).

Odorizzi has not gone more than six innings in a start in any of his last nine outings. He is coming off an outing against the Baltimore Orioles (six innings, two runs allowed) that has at least offered a little encouragement. Is that enough? There was something to be happy about last season, as he posted a 3.35 ERA, but none of that is going to matter if he duplicates this year’s start against Oakland, as he surrendered five runs in four innings and threw 97 pitches. Like Manaea, Odorizzi was a first-round pick in the amateur draft, going to the Milwaukee Brewers in 2008.

One thing you can say about the Rays is that they have at least had some luck against left-handed starters, batting .275 with a 12-12 record, compared to a mark that is 19 games under .500 against righties.

BetAnySports customers have a great opportunity for value in their sports betting activity as they get reduced juice on all betting against the MLB odds. And if you haven’t tried Live Betting Ultra, which allows you to wager on the game in real time, you are really missing out on something!