The White Sox will look to continue hanging around in both the AL Central and races Wild Card through the weekend when they take on the Los Angeles Angels in a battle of likely non-factors from the Big A.
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ODDS ANALYSIS
The White Sox were the toast of the Southside with Robin Ventura’s squad sitting atop the standings for the first month of play. Then May and June occurred and the club found itself fending off only the wretched Twins for last place in the division. Since then, the team has stumbled upon a couple more wins than losses having gone 11-7 over its last 18 games for a $413 return on investment. Still, the Palehose sit seven games out in the division but only 2.5 games out in the Wild Card race.
A year removed from winning the AL West and getting swept by the then surprising Kansas City Royals in the ALDS, it looks like the Halos are going to put forth a rare losing season under the watchful eye of Mike Scioscia. The club finished up in third place in the AL West last season but failed to qualify for the postseason. At 15 games under .500 and down over $1500 for MLB bettors coming out of the break, it’s likely Arte Moreno decides to sell some of his pieces in hopes of getting better in the future.
PROBABLE PITCHERS
Things had gotten so bad for James “Big Game” Shields recently that you likely couldn’t play a fantasy baseball to start him over the last month. Shields hardly made a good impression after being shotput out of San Diego after getting shelled for 24 hits and 21 ERs in his first three starts with the White Sox, but he’ll enter his 19th start on Saturday night having thrown three straight quality starts and logging a pair of wins. He’s fared well versus the Angels throughout his career in going 6-3 with a 3.31 ERA, but has had issues at Angel Stadium where he’s been hit for a .316 batting average against.
It’s unknown at the time of this writing who will toe the bump for the home team in the second game of this series. The one thing we do know is that pitching – whether on the starting bump or out of the bullpen – has been something LA hasn’t excelled at all season long. The starting staff owns a collective 4.78 ERA (#21) while the bullpen hasn’t been much better with a 4.09 ERA (#19). Pair that with an offense scoring an average of just 4.5 runs per game even though it ranks No. 9 in the game with a .266 batting average, and it comes as no surprise to see this squad checking in as the No. 26 worst bet in all of baseball.
LIVE BETTING
These teams split a four game series at U.S. Cellular Field back in late April with each game seeing an average of just 5.0 runs per game put on the board. Not surprisingly, the under cashed easily in each contest moving it to 8-2 the last 10 times these AL reps crossed paths.
Low scoring games have however not been the norm when these clubs have went at it in Anaheim with the over 6-4 in the last 10 matchups. The Halos have dominated the festivities as well coming out on the right side of the scoreboard 15 of the last 20 times these clubs went at it in Anaheim. Chicago’s taken just one series in LA dating back to 2011.
QUICK PICK
It hardly matters to me who takes the bump for the home team in this one. I expect the trend of higher scoring games to once again play out in this one as I’m not thoroughly convinced Shields is back on track and Angels' pitchers have had a terrible time missing bats all season. LA was also ripping the cover off the ball before the break in averaging 6.0 runs per game over its last seven. Look for them to pick up where they left off, but for Chicago to get its rips in as well against whatever dead arm goes for the Angels.
MLB Odds: Angels 6, White Sox 5
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