The Oakland Athletics spent their week in the Bronx and lost three-straight to the Yankees to fall to 8-30 on the season. They are the only team that has not reached double-digit wins yet, but they do have four chances at home this weekend against the Texas Rangers. It won't be easy for Oakland to even take a split because Texas is the top team in the AL West with a 22-14 record.
The Rangers have just taken back-to-back series from AL West opponents on the road and they'll try to make it three in a row with Nathan Eovaldi on the mound for Game 1. The A's are still undecided on their starter, but there are still odds available for this AL West matchup.
Rangers vs. Athletics odds, run line and total
Rangers vs. Athletics prediction and pick
Oakland's exciting young pitcher, Mason Miller is dealing with inflammation in his right arm and that has thrown the club's rotation off. They still haven't decided who will pitch tonight, but do have the rest of the series mapped out. It's not like Oakland has any depth of pitching in their organization to survive an injury to a starter, they don't even have five serviceable starters when everyone is healthy. Whoever takes the mound won't be anywhere near the level of Nathan Eovaldi and that means it will fall on Brent Rooker and Oakland's lineup to give them a chance.
In Eovaldi's last two starts he's gone 17.0 innings and given up no runs on eight hits. He has a 3.22 ERA and 4-2 record in seven starts, but his FIP of 2.17 indicates that he has pitched even better than those great numbers indicate. He will need to be good because the A's are fourth in OPS over the past seven days with JJ Bleday's 1.401 OPS over that stretch. Bleday has three home runs in the past week and is becoming something of a 1-2 punch with Brent Rooker.
Despite how strong Eovaldi has been, I like the over with Oakland's uncertainty on the mound and above average lineup.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change