September is an interesting time for major league baseball with teams making a final push for the postseason, others looking at young prospects to evaluate for the future and all teams sporting expanded rosters. We’ll get to see prospects at play on Wednesday with a pair of rookies on the hill to close the three game series between these two non-contenders.
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ODDS ANALYSIS
Oakland snapped a five game losing streak with a narrow 1-0 victory over the Red Sox on Sunday. Even with the win, the A’s are still just 11-20 since the start of August and 31-38 at home this season.
The Athletics also sit three games behind the Angels in last place in the AL West.
Los Angeles had a massive losing streak in August, but have been playing better since. Over their last 11 games, they’ve recorded nine wins, six of those wins came on the road.
PROBABLE PITCHERS
Injuries to Sean Manaea and Andrew Triggs have opened up a spot in the rotation for Jharel Cotton.
The 24-year old was acquired by the A’s from the Dodgers for Rich Hill earlier this summer and has looked good for the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Nashville posting a 2.82 ERA and 0.92 WHIP in his 38 1/3 innings of work.
Wednesday will be Cotton’s major league debut. The right-hander has found success at a number of levels in the minors. He’s 11-6 split between Nashville and the Dodgers’ affiliate in the Pacific Coast League in Oklahoma City.
Before the trade, Cotton showed promise, but was having trouble with walks, since the deal, his walk rate has been half what it was for the Dodgers though his strikeout rate also dropped. He gave up some strikeouts for better command and it seemed to pay off in the numbers.
While there’s plenty of reasons for Oakland fans to be excited about Cotton’s debut, it’s always good to be a bit skeptical of minor leaguers, particularly when they’re not exactly the top prospects like Cotton.
Of course on Wednesday, both teams are going with inexperienced rookies as the Angels get their first look at Alex Meyer, acquired from the Twins at the deadline.
Unlike Cotton, we have at least seen our first glimpse of Meyer at the big league level in a couple of appearances for the Twins over the last two years. Still, he’s only had six and a third innings at the big league level and has allowed 10 runs, 12 hits and seven walks in that time.
Much of the luster has worn off the 26-year old right-hander, but he was a former top prospect and still has the stuff that made him so sought after in his younger years in the minors.
The youngster has played in a number of different leagues as he’s been recovering from injury and has shown some of the dominance in those stops, particularly in three games pitched at Triple-A Rochester. Overall, he’s 26-22 with a 3.39 ERA at the minor league level. He’s shown the ability to keep the ball in the park in his 114 minor league games, allowing just 23 home runs, but has struggled with the walk with 3.8 walks per nine innings. The issues with his command continued in his limited big league experience and are likely to prevent him from being a big league starter for the long run, but the Angels will give him a shot on Wednesday.
LIVE BETTING
The Angels offense came alive in Seattle over the weekend, scoring 22 runs in three games.
Albert Pujols for one is red hot. He slammed his 29th home run of the season on Sunday, recording RBIs number 107 and 108 in the process. The veteran slugger doesn’t have the high average he did in his prime, but the pop is still there and he provides protection for the game’s best hitter: Mike Trout.
Trout continues to find himself in the MVP discussion despite the Angels’ poor record. He’s putting together, arguably, his best season to date.
The duo of Trout and Pujols haven’t been the problem with the Angels’ offense this year, it’s been the players around them, but with Kole Calhoun chugging along and C.J Cron and Yunel Escobar both healthy, this team finally has enough pieces top to bottom to pose a threat more than once every three innings.
While the Angels’ offense is beefing up, the A’s offense has gone quiet. They scored just eight runs during their five game losing streak and even in their Sunday win, they managed just a single run.
Oakland has pieces to break out of the slump, but everyone has gone cold at once. There’s an issue in the clubhouse between Billy Butler and Danny Valencia, too. Meanwhile, Marcus Semien and Khris Davis provide plenty of pop, but both can also be pitched to, each recording more than their share of strike outs.
QUICK PICK
Both of these teams are in similar positions in the standings. Neither team has winning as the primary goal the rest of the year, but each are headed by managers in Mike Scioscia and Bob Melvin who aren’t going to give up. When the game starts, these managers are trying to win despite diminished rosters.
With the starters lined up for this game, look for a higher scoring affair—even with the A’s offense going cold. Neither bullpen is good enough to bail out their starter so take the over when betting the total. Given the recent trends for these teams, you can also take the Angels head-to-head.
MLB Odds: Angels 8, Athletics 5
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