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Rangers vs. Tigers Prediction and Odds for Saturday, June 18 (Should Rangers Be Bigger Favorites?)

By Joe Summers

The Rangers are 6-2 over Taylor Hearn's last eight starts as they take on the Tigers today
The Rangers are 6-2 over Taylor Hearn's last eight starts as they take on the Tigers today / Ron Schwane/GettyImages
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The 24-40 Detroit Tigers have lost six straight as they host the 31-33 Texas Rangers today in desperate need of a win.

Rony Garcia gets the nod for Detroit in search of his first win of the year. He's 0-2 with a 5.06 ERA over 12 appearances, though this is only his fifth start. Garcia's ERA as a starter is 7.00 as he struggles to limit home runs and hard contact.

Texas turns to Taylor Hearn, who limited seven of his last eight opponents to three runs or fewer. Hearn issues too many walks and has thrown six innings only once in 12 starts, but he's consistently put the Rangers in positions to win.

Can he do so once again to give Texas a third-straight victory or will Detroit snap out of their funk?

Here are the odds from WynnBET Sportsbook to help us find out ahead out ahead of this Rangers vs Tigers matchup:

Rangers vs Tigers Odds, Run Line and Total

Run Line:

  • Rangers -1.5 (+127)
  • Tigers +1.5 (-155)

Moneyline:

  • Rangers: -120
  • Tigers: +110

Total:

  • 8.5 (Over -120/Under +100)

Rangers vs Tigers Prediction and Pick

I fully expected the Rangers' moneyline to be closer to -150, so I'm thrilled with the value on Texas in this game. Don't get it twisted: Taylor Hearn is not a good pitcher at this stage in his career. But he's miles ahead of Rony Garcia and takes on the most lifeless lineup in the league.

It's like my basketball game. If you put me in a low-level recreational league against a bunch of bad players, I dominate. But once I switch over to the competitive gym and play with real athletes, I'm in over my head and just set as many picks as possible to stay out of the way. Big fish in a small pond vs small fish in a big pond, you know?

Hearn is the same way. He's the biggest fish in a small pond today. It's hard to overstate how small the fish are in Detroit's lineup. Of every single MLB team of the last 10 years, your 2022 Detroit Tigers have the lowest team OPS (.587). That's right, the Tigers have possibly the worst offense of the last 10 years. Nice job, everyone.

So Hearn doesn't even have to be good, or even average, to find success against Detroit. Especially when you consider Rony Garcia pitches for the Tigers in this one. The poor guy is an unmitigated disaster. Look at his MLB Statcast pitching profile:

As a reminder, first percentile is bad. You mean to tell me that Garcia is among the worst starters in MLB, the Tigers' lineup is the worst of the last 10 years, and Texas is only -120 favorites?

Look for the Rangers to improve to 7-2 over Hearn's last nine starts as the Tigers drop their fifth straight as a home underdog. Perhaps Detroit should try one of those low-level recreational league games to get their groove back - it always worked for me.

Pick: Rangers (-120)

Follow all of Joe Summers' betting picks here.