Thursday’s best MLB bets

Texas Rangers at Tampa Bay Devil Rays (-138 )

It's not often that you see a pitcher with a 13-15 record and 5.18 ERA take the mound for Game 2 of a playoff series. However, Tampa Bay's James Shield has been terrible on the road this season and manager Joe Maddon wants him going at home. That could spell trouble against a Texas team that scored 787 runs this year, fifth most in the Major Leagues (Tampa Bay was third).

Meanwhile, Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton, who belted 32 homers and drove in 100 runs despite playing in just 133 games, was sidelined for 24 games in September due to a rib injury. But he returned for the final weekend against Los Angeles and is not about to miss any playoff action.

"It's just that time of year," Hamilton said in an interview at Tropicana Field prior to Game 1. "You suck it up, you get after it, because I want to be in there for me teammates. I want to be in the lineup. I've been there most of the year with them through everything we've gone through together to get to this point. I'm going to be out there with them."

Shields will be opposed by C.J. Wilson, who went 15-8 with a 3.35 ERA during the regular season.

Pick: Over

Atlanta Braves at San Francisco Giants (-153, 6.5)

Noboby could have predicted seeing these two batting lineups in a playoff game when the season started way back in the spring. The Giants were supposed to feature Mark DeRosa, Benjie Molina, and Aaron Rowand. Instead, they are now being led by Buster Posey, Pat Burrell, Andres Torres, and Freddy Sanchez.

When the Braves beat Philadelphia last Sunday en route to clinching the wild card, only two of the eight position players in the starting lineup had started on opening day. Chipper Jones is gone; Martin Prado is gone; Yunel Escobar is gone, just to name a few. Enter Derrek Lee, Brooks Conrad, and Alex Gonzalez, among many others.

"It helps when you have the starting pitching that we've had all year and you've got the seventh-, eighth- and ninth-inning bullpen that we've had all year," Jones said of the constant offensive reshuffling. "That helps a lot. That overshadows a lack of offense here and there."

Speaking of a lack of offense, Atlanta is going up against Tim Lincecum on Thursday. Lincecum won’t be winning a third straight Cy Young Award, but he still went 16-10 with a 3.43 ERA during the regular season.

Pick: Giants