The Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers face off in a series-deciding finale on Wednesday night in Arlington.
The pregame narrative: It hasn’t been the most exciting matchup, with only five runs scored in total across the first two games of the series. And things won’t get easier for Toronto’s offence tonight as it faces Texas right-hander Tyler Mahle, who’s having an excellent start to the year.
Check out my Blue Jays vs. Rangers prop picks on May 28, featuring Wyatt Langford and Anthony Santander.
Blue Jays picks vs. Rangers
Best bet: Langford over 0.5 runs (-108)
Toronto’s starter was recently announced as Paxton Schultz, a reliever who’s getting the first go in what appears to be a bullpen day.
Langford’s been effective regardless of who he’s facing. Take a look at his stats since May 10:
- He has reached base in 13 of 17 games with a .319 OBP.
- That’s led to a total of 12 runs scored during that time.
Langford hit a solo home run in the first game of this series and then followed that up by going 1-for-3 yesterday and crossing home plate once again.
He isn’t necessarily hitting for a great average (.246), but his .462 slugging percentage and excellent 127 OPS+ paint a picture of a power hitter who’s breaking out.
Overall, 10 of his 41 hits this season have been home runs.
The 23-year-old typically bats second in the Rangers’ lineup, so his power leads to plenty of scoring opportunities on the base paths.
Key stat: Langford leads the Rangers with 24 runs scored this season. The next closest is Josh Smith with 19.
Quick pick
Santander under 0.5 hits (+125): Fading the Blue Jays’ offence is an easy call right now, and Santander’s the leading culprit.
He’s batting .185 on the season with a dreadful .589 OPS. And it’s not a case of bad luck, either.
Take a look at his advanced metrics, per Baseball Savant:
- 2nd-percentile xBA (.202)
- 10th-percentile xSLG (.330)
- 17th-percentile barrel rate (4.7)
- 22nd-percentile K rate (25.9)
To put it in simple terms, he’s not hitting the baseball much. When that’s the case, a fade at plus-money is always worth a look.
Mahle, meanwhile, righty ranks fifth in MLB with a 1.80 ERA.
While he’s been the beneficiary of some ball luck (3.85 xERA), it’s hard to argue against his results over a 60-inning sample, which includes a pristine 1.03 WHIP.
Santander is 0-for-7 in this series and has failed to record a hit in just under half of his games this season.
Blue Jays vs. Rangers picks made at 10:20 a.m. ET on 05/27/2025.
Spencer is a true sports junkie. A graduate of the Sports Journalism program at Centennial College, he first joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2023. He is now a contributing writer. He loves finding the edge to bet on in all sports but has a deep passion for the NBA and UFC. Previous stops include Sportsnet.