September baseball betting separates the majors into three categories: Teams in the playoffs, teams fighting for the playoffs, and everyone else.

Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees
The Yankees broke even in Toronto this weekend, splitting a four-game series with the Blue Jays. New York heads back to the Big Apple with a 7.5-game lead in the American League East and faces a club they've dominated in recent meetings. The Yankees have taken four of their last five games against the Rays and lead the season series 6-5. New York sends CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett to the mound in Monday’s doubleheader, and will have closer Mariano Rivera available after he missed time this weekend with a groin injury.

Tampa Bay is currently in the midst of a four-game losing streak and has dropped seven of its last 10 games following a series sweep at the hands of the Detroit Tigers. That skid has dropped the Rays seven games out of the AL Wild Card spot. The team's pitching staff has struggled recently, posting an ERA of 5.52 this past week. Some of the trouble has to do with reliever J.P. Howell, who has given up four earned runs in the past three games despite putting in under an innings’ worth of work in those appearances.

Detroit Tigers at Kansas City Royals
The Tigers gave themselves a seven-game cushion in the American League Central with that three-game sweep of the Rays over the weekend. Detroit has won six games in a row and eight of its last 10 games heading into Kansas City. Versus the Royals the Tigers are 8-4 this season, and they have an ERA of 2.44 against Kansas City's bats. Detroit's offense is getting the job done during this recent hot streak. As a team, the Tigers are batting .279 and scoring over five runs per game.

The Royals are hoping to repeat their strong finish to last season. However, the start of September has produced a 1-3 record heading into Tuesday's opener. Kansas City's bats have produced just 10 runs this month and boast a .252 batting average. The Royals also have holes in their rotation with injuries sidelining starters Brian Bannister and Gil Meche. Relievers Bruce Chen and Robinson Tejeda will step in to open this series.

San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants
The Giants are just one game behind the Colorado Rockies in the National League Wild Card race. San Francisco has made up ground in recent contests, winning seven of its last 11 games. As usual, the Giants’ pitching staff is the strength of this push. As of Sunday, the Giants had a 1.47 collective ERA this month and will hand the ball to recent acquisition Brad Penny in Tuesday's opener. Penny was impressive in his San Fran debut, pitching an eight-inning shutout against the Philadelphia Phillies last Wednesday.

The only other club with a lower ERA this month is San Diego. The Padres’ staff owns a 1.29 ERA in September, and they had won seven of their last 10 games heading into Sunday night's finale with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Padres’ offense has done enough to keep the team winning, scoring four runs per game in the past week, but now faces the best staff in the bigs. Versus the Giants' talented staff San Diego is hitting just .231 but leads the season series 7-5.

This information is provided in partnership with BetUs Sportsbook

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