The Oakland Athletics are now tied with the Kansas City Royals for first place in the American League wild card race after losing 2-0 to the Los Angeles Angels. They will look to get their postseason bid back on track when they face the playoff-bound Angels in their final meeting of the regular season.
Read on for a complete preview of this AL West showdown and while you’re at it you can also check out our preview of the San Francisco vs. LA Dodgers game.
[sc:MLBArticles ]Los Angeles Angels vs. Oakland Athletics Betting Preview and Prediction
Where: O.co Coliseum, Oakland
When: September 24, 2014, 3:35 PM ET
Line: Los Angeles Angels (+170) at Oakland Athletics (-200); total: 7.5 – view all MLB lines
What’s at Stake
[sc:MLB240banner ]The Oakland Athletics are in a dead heat with the Kansas City Royals for the top spot in the American League wild card race. They both have similar 86-71 records heading into the final five games of the season. A win here is vital if they are to clinch not only a wild card slot but also home field advantage in that playoff game.
Betting on the Los Angeles Angels
The Los Angeles Angels may have clinched the American League West title a week ago but they are still making things tough for their rivals the Oakland Athletics.
The Angels leaned on a solid performance by Wade LeBlanc to pull off a 2-0 win over the A’s to stretch their division lead to 10.5 games. LeBlanc allowed just five hits in 5.1 innings of shutout ball to stretch his scoreless streak to 15.2 innings and is making a very strong case for a spot in the Angels’ rotation for the upcoming divisional series.
“Any time players perform well, it’s going to help you to be stronger and help you make decisions,” manager Mike Scioscia said. “We haven’t made any decisions yet but these are two strong starts from Wade.”
The next to audition for a spot in the Angels’ rotation come playoff time is Hector Santiago (5-9, 3.98 ERA). He will have to do something extraordinary, though, after his atrocious performance last time out.
Santiago lasted just one inning in his last outing, allowing six earned runs on seven hits against the Texas Rangers. This follows his two-inning showing against the Houston Astros last September 14th wherein he surrendered three runs on five hits in a 12-3 shellacking.
Even with such a bad run of form, he will be fancying his chances ahead of his meeting with the Athletics later today. He is 1-0 with a 1.11 ERA in his four career starts against Oakland.
Also helping his cause is the Angels’ excellent offensive unit. They are the best in the majors in runs scored this season with 763 to their name. Shortstop Erick Aybar will be the one called upon by the Angels in this game as he’s batting an impressive .438 in his last nine meetings with Oakland. Also he is 7 for 20 lifetime against Jon Lester who is the scheduled starter for the A’s.
The Angels are an impressive 9-1 in their last 10 away games.
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Betting on the Oakland Athletics
Just when you thought that the Oakland Athletics were getting their groove back, here come the Los Angeles Angels to spoil their party.
Oakland had their two-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday night as they lost a tough 2-0 decision to the Los Angeles Angels. They wasted a fantastic performance from pitcher Sonny Gray who struck out a career-high 12 batters in seven innings of work.
Unfortunately, their offense was lacking this time around. After two consecutive eight-run outings, the Athletics suddenly hit a brick wall as they had difficulty solving the Angels pitching.
That doesn’t mean that they didn’t have chances though. They had runners on base between the third and eighth innings and had runners on scoring position on three of those occasions. Their biggest opportunity came in the bottom of the eighth when the A’s had the bases loaded with two outs but catcher Stephen Vogt popped out to end the inning.
Such defeats are hard to take but the A’s don’t have time to wallow now that they are in a dog fight with the Royals and the Mariners for the coveted wild card slots. Fortunately they have a big-time pitcher lined up for their must-win game against the Angels later this afternoon and he is none other than Jon Lester (16-10, 2.41 ERA).
Lester has been a dominant force for Oakland ever since he joined the A’s rotation back in August. He is 6-3 with a 2.20 ERA in 10 starts since coming over from the Boston Red Sox. He has won his last three starts, allowing a total of just three earned runs in 21 innings of work.
He needs the offense to back him up, though, in the game today against the Angels. Outfielder Josh Reddick maybe the man to do just that. Reddick is hitting 6 of 9 with 1 RBI in Oakland’s last four games. He has a good record against the Angels’ starter Hector Santiago as well hitting 3-for-7 lifetime against the left-hander.
Writer’s Prediction
The Athletics (-200) pull off the tight win to keep in step with the Royals in the wild card race.
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