Texas Rangers vs. Toronto Blue Jays Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 4/8/2022

Time: 7:07 p.m. ET

Venue: Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON

Where to watch: Bally Sports Southwest, SNET

DraftKings: NL

BetMGM: Blue Jays -185, Rangers +150

Caesars: Blue Jays -175, Rangers +155

Rangers: 60-102 (Last place, AL West)

Blue Jays: 91-71 (4th place, AL East)

I may never find a team again in my lifetime that will spend more than a half-billion dollars to just win 75 games, but any improvement is considered great improvement when the Texas Rangers are as committed to winning as they are right now.

Funny enough, so is their opponent on Friday in the season opener between the Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays. Two teams I love dearly, one more than the other, but two teams I can’t wait to see how they fare this season.

The Rangers are going all-in. It might not be this year, and it might not even be next year. But they must be doing something right if Corey Seager and Marcus Semien decided to leave comforting situations with the Dodgers and Blue Jays to come play in Texas.

But one thing’s for certain: The Rangers struggled to produce offense last season. They addressed both of those needs in a big way. Seager is a near-.300 hitter who can put the ball in play and show off the occasional power when he wants to. He played only 95 games last season with the Dodgers, but batted .306 with 16 homers. He can be a 30-homer guy in Texas.

Semien was only in Toronto for one year, but him finishing third in the AL MVP race was no fluke. Hehit a career-high 45 home runs while driving in over 100 RBI for the first time in his career. Semien was a constant threat playing six seasons with Oakland, and now he’ll get the chance to prove his worth with his new group that he’s signed long-term with.

“That's a hard one to answer,” Semien said about the ceiling for this team. “If you're clicking on all cylinders, it doesn't matter who's in the bill. You're going to win a lot of games. The fact that we do have the talent to do it and the coaches, everybody's on the same page. Why not? You know, nobody's gonna sit there and set a goal of less than 100 wins. Everybody wants to win the 100.”

The Rangers also signed veteran pitcher Jon Gray to a four-year deal, and he’ll be the Opening Day starter for Texas. The veteran is going to be called upon to provide some stability to this young, unknown rotation. Martin Perez also returns to Texas as a veteran No. 2, but knowing how inconsistent he was the last time around, nothing’s certain in that spot.

And despite trading Isiah Kiner-Falefa, they got Mitch Garver in return as an immediate impact at catcher. This team can hit the ball better than last year.

The Blue Jays are going to compete in the AL East, which is dangerous in a good and bad way. Good being that Toronto is going to be very good. Bad in the sense they still need to go through Tampa Bay, Boston and New York to not be a 95-win fourth-place team.

It might not get that extreme, but the Blue Jays are expected to be as good as last year despite losing Semien and last year’s Cy Young winner Robbie Ray. They replaced them with solid additions of Kevin Gausman and Matt Chapman.

But of course, it all starts and ends with the talent in the batting order. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is back after his MVP-caliber season. A reminder that if Shohei Ohtani didn’t exist, Toronto would have the MVP on its roster. Bo Bichette is in another year after a great 2021. Jose Berrios is now the ace. There’s plenty to like with this group despite the losses. Get ready for fun baseball in Toronto.

Both teams are going to be fired up, but won’t be fired up enough for a full Rougned Odor-Jose Bautista brawl. Texas is going to benefit from having Gray, one of the best groundball pitchers in the league. If he can keep the ball in the infield and let Seager and Semien go to work, it’s going to be an effective day for the Rangers. I also think Semien plays a big role in his first game back in Toronto. Rangers win 7-5

The Rangers are 30-81 (-34 net games on money line) on the road the past three seasons.

The Rangers are 14-20 (+0.2 net games on ML) against AL East teams the past three seasons.

The Blue Jays are 64-47 (-1.6 net games on ML) at home the past three seasons.

Rangers:
1. Marcus Semien, 2B
2. Corey Seager, SS
3. Mitch Garver, C
4. Nathaniel Lowe, 1B
5. Adolis García, CF
6. Kole Calhoun, RF
7. Brad Miller, LF
8. Andy Ibáñez, 3B
9. Willie Calhoun, DH

Blue Jays:
1. George Springer, CF
2. Bo Bichette, SS
3. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 1B
4. Teoscar Hernández, RF
5. Lourdes Gurriel Jr., LF
6. Alejandro Kirk, DH
7. Matt Chapman, 3B
8. Santiago Espinal, 2B
9. Danny Jansen, C

TEX: Jon Gray
TOR: Jose Berrios