Oakland Athletics vs. Seattle Mariners Betting Preview
Where: Safeco Field — Seattle, Washington
When: Friday, September 30, 2016, 7:10 PM ET
Line: Oakland Athletics vs. Seattle Mariners; total: – view all MLB lines
TV Broadcast:
Writer’s Pick: Seattle Mariners
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Betting on the Oakland Athletics
The 67-92 Oakland Athletics are having an up and down September. There are no in-betweens, it’s either a 4-game winning streak or a 4-game losing streak. Heading into Friday’s game, it’s the latter, as they are losers in nine of their last 10.
Oakland will have the seldom-used Raul Alcantara (1-2, 5.75 ERA) on the mound against the Mariners. This is the 23-year-old’s first year in the big leagues and he only has 20.1 MLB innings under his belt. The rookie was blasted in their 5-0 loss to the Rangers last Saturday, giving up four runs on seven hits (two homers) over six innings, while striking out six. For the Athletics, who’ll be “gone fishing” in about a week, this will be a good opportunity to get their young guys some much-needed reps.
The A’s batters are a bit inexperienced with Seattle’s projected starter Taijuan Walker, only totaling 73 at-bats versus the pitcher. LF Khris Davis, Oakland’s season leader in homers (41), runs (84), hits (134), and RBIs (100), is just 1-of-6 against Walker. Second-year 1B and LF Mark Canha, who only has 44 plate appearances this season, has faced the Mariners pitcher thrice, hitting every time and homering one.
The Athletics have lost four straight road games.
Betting on the Seattle Mariners
You can bet that the Mariners are quite anxious right now. They are on a hard race for a wildcard spot, chasing the Orioles and the Blue Jays, who they are down to by two games. For Seattle to punch a card in the playoffs, they must sweep Oakland (not that it’s hard), and Baltimore or Toronto must lose their remaining games (this one will be hard).
Seattle has already won the first game of their current series with Oakland, 3-2, and will look to win again on Friday, because as mentioned, it’s sweep or go home for them.
Taijuan Walker (7-11, 4.35 ERA) will start for the Mariners. The fourth-year pitcher last started this past Sunday against the Twins, he allowed three runs on nine hits (one homer) and two walks over 5.1 innings, striking out seven. Mariners won the game, 4-3.
The batters of the Athletics and the Mariners are in similar positions; both groups will be facing pitchers that they almost have zero at-bats. Collectively, the Mariners are 7-of-22 opposite Alcantara, with one homer, two RBIs, two walks, and four strikeouts (.318 BA).
With the small sample size, it can be tough to gauge if the batters will have success or not. It will be safe to assume, though, that Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, and Kyle Seager, Mariners’ best hitters, will go out there and test the rookie’s pitching skills.
Let’s not forget as well that Seattle is one stat-stuffing team. They are in the top six of NL’s home runs (216), hits (1408), runs (750), and RBIs (717).
The Mariners are 5-5 in their last 10 games at Safeco Field.
Writer’s Prediction
The Mariners win, 6-1.
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