The Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics both find themselves in the heart of key postseason races when they meet for the first game of a brief two-game series on Tuesday night. While the Dodgers have a much better chance at their division, the A’s coming into the series with a better record in a more difficult division. Can the A’s continue to prove the doubters wrong against a big-name team like the Dodgers? They’ve got their best on the mound to prove the point on Tuesday as Sean Manaea will make the start for Oakland opposite the Dodgers’ Rich Hill.
First pitch for the game between the Dodgers and Athletics is scheduled for Tuesday, August 7, 2017, at 10:05 p.m. ET at Oakland Alameda Coliseum. The matchup will be shown on the local sports networks.
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Odds Analysis
The Dodgers’ made two of the biggest deadline moves adding Manny Machado and Brian Dozier to an already strong offense and while those additions have so far proven solid, the team is just 2-5 in their last seven games.
Offensively, the team did have a big showing on Thursday, scoring 21 runs against Milwaukee in that game. That shows just how potent this offense can be.
With Manny and Dozier now up the middle, the Dodgers can slide Max Muncy over to first and push Chris Taylor and Cody Bellinger to the outfield where they provide solid offense and can mix and match along with a slew of other outfielders.
Taylor figures to play in this one against a lefty starter along with Enrique Hernandez whose sole purpose on this team now is to play against lefties.
L.A. is a deep team and they not only can put out a strong lineup regardless of who is pitching, but they’ll likely have Muncy or Bellinger on the bench given they’re both lefty hitters. That will provide excellent pinch-hitting matchups later in the game against the Oakland bullpen.
Of course, for as good as the Dodgers’ offense is, the A’s have scored nearly as many runs this year and have a team OPS of .751 compared to .753 for the men in blue.
Oakland has been an underrated team all year and the offense is a big reason why. Jed Lowrie continues to provide excellent offense at second with power and a .350 OBP. He’s one of six active hitters with at least 300 plate appearances and a OPS+ of at least 109. Then, there’s also Franklin Barreto and Nick Martini who have been great in a smaller sample size.
The names of Matt Olson, Matt Chapman and Stephen Piscotty don’t have the same luster as Machado, Matt Kemp or Dozier, but they’ve been just as good, especially lately where Kemp has really struggled and lost playing time while Chapman has a .337/.411/.612 slash line in his last 25 games.
Probable Pitchers
In a rotation Bob Melvin has essentially mixed and match all season, Sean Manaea is the lone reliable arm. The young southpaw is first on the team in wins, notching his tenth against the Blue Jays on Wednesday.
Having thrown a no-hitter earlier this year, it’s been quite a year for the talented lefty and he’s been consistent recently, too. In fact, he hasn’t allowed more than three runs in a start in more than two months as he’s turned into the ace of the staff. He consistently gives the A’s a chance to win whenever he takes the mound.
Overall, Manaea is 10-7 with a 3.38 ERA and 1.012 WHIP in 141.1 innings of work. He’s approaching his career high in innings pitched and could breakdown in September, but don’t look for fatigue to play much of a factor for Manaea on Tuesday.
Instead, Manaea has really picked up his game since a hiccup in mid-May. He’s also going into this game against the Dodgers having already pitched well against them, going five innings and allowing two runs back in Aprill. Despite the good start, however, the A’s lost that game. They haven’t most many of Manaea’s starts lately, winning eight of his last 10.
On the Dodgers’ end of the matchup, Rich Hill, a fellow lefty, is taking the ball. Hill is on the other side of the experience meter from Manaea. He’s not nearly as electric of an arm, but he’s pitching well right now. He’s been on a roll for the last couple months ever since making a key mechanical adjustment. It shows, too, as he’s lowered his ERA from 6.20 to 3.63 in a matter of months.
The 38-year old Hill is 4-4 on the year with that 3.63 ERA and a 1.291 WHIP. The WHIP is a bit high with his 3.1 walks per nine innings and 8.5 hits allowed, but some of those numbers are still inflated from a rough start before the veteran southpaw got his mechanics sorted out and the curveball back to form.
Over his last three starts, Hill has been filthy. He’s gone at least six innings in each and hasn’t allowed more than a single earned run. In 19 combined innings, he’s allowed three runs, two earned, on 14 hits and six walks. He’s struck out 21 in that time.
Hill is a former Athletic, but in his career against Oakland, he’s appeared in five games, but thrown just 3.2 innings while allowing three runs. It’s a tiny sample size, but not a great omen.
Live Betting
While the Dodgers added Machado and Dozier at the deadline, they left the bullpen relatively untouched. They did pick up John Axford, but the former closer is little more than a middle innings arm at this point in his career. He also looked very bad in his debut, allowing six runs over just a third of an inning.
The Dodgers’ bullpen ranks in the middle of the pack in baseball with a 3.89 ERA and that’s gone up since adding Axford.
While Kenley Jansen remains one of the game’s best closers and an All-Star, he’s on a bit of an island in this bullpen. The rotation is strong and he’s lockdown in the ninth, but the team needs to get to him and that’s where the Dodgers are a little weak.
Aside from Axford, the team is depending on Pedro Baez, who has twice faltered late in a season, Daniel Hudson, Scott Alexander and a collection of other names. They do have some injuries, but they’re missing a clutch eighth inning arm like Brandon Morrow was for them last year.
On the A’s side, the bullpen is so much deeper. Blake Treinen went from a closing failure in Washington to a lockdown closer in Oakland in a year. He’s got a 0.95 ERA and 1.71 FIP to go along with 28 saves this season.
Ahead of Treinen, the A’s added Jeurys Familia to the pen who has had a much better early impact than Axford with six good performances, allowing just one unearned runs on four hits in eight innings.
Even before adding Familia, Oakland had a more options than the Dodgers with Lou Trivino going 8-1 with a 1.18 ERA in 44 relief appearances and Yusmeiro Petit and Emilio Pagan also serving as reliable arms. Trivino’s record also paints a picture of a comeback team able to score late inning runs against the opposition to get the setup reliever a win. That’s also telling for the Dodgers’ bullpen who will have to contended with that pesky Oakland offense.
MLB Pick
Take the Athletics to get the win at home over the Dodgers.
Los Angeles was the team that made the biggest splash this deadline, getting Machado and Dozier, but they failed to do much to upgrade the bullpen and the A’s have the advantage in that department.
While the Dodgers may end up the better team due to a deeper rotation, the rotation lines up to put the A’s best on the mound on Tuesday and the way Manaea has been pitching, he’s been a true top-of-the-rotation arm.
Look for Manaea to toss a good game against the Dodgers and keep his streak of three-runs or less allowed as he hands the ball over to the bullpen with the score at least tied. All things equal between these bullpens, look for the A’s to come out ahead.
In the end, Oakland will scratch across what they need against Hill and the Dodgers’ bullpen ahead of Jansen and walk away with a close win.
MLB Odds: Athletics 5, Dodgers 3
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