Tampa Bay comes off a 68-94 season and appears headed for the AL East cellar again after a 10-18 September which obviously means the Rays didn't improve much throughout the season. Chris Archer was 3-10 at home at year and 1-4 record and 5.01 ERA in April and is a slow starter.

For the Yanks, who are coming off a great preseason, they start Masahiro Tanaka was 14-4 with a 3.07 ERA and set career highs in wins, innings, starts, strikeouts and quality starts. The right-hander had a 2.34 road ERA and was 4-0 with a .194 opponent batting average against the Rays and New York has won Tanaka's last eight starts versus Tampa Bay and the Rays are 0-6 in Archer's last six starts vs the Yanks.

Masahiro Tanaka is by far the best pitcher in the Yankees rotation. He just knows how to pitch but, more importantly, he knows how to win. Another bonus is he had great success on the road last year. His spring was sensational. Tampa Bay's offense is below average and should be easy for Tanaka to navigate through and my opening MLB 10* is on the NY Yankees.