MLB Baseball Betting: Baltimore Orioles at Oakland A’s
The Toronto Blue Jays are idle on Thursday but they’ll definitely be watching the scoreboard as the Baltimore Orioles wrap up a series against the Oakland A’s. All 30 teams in the league are in action on Wednesday night so all records in this preview are pending those results. Entering Wednesday’s games the AL East remained very tightly packed with the Blue Jays and Baltimore tied for first place. Truth be told, Baltimore is fractionally ahead of Toronto( by.002% due to a higher winning percentage) but for the purposes of the MLB standings they’re tied. The Boston Red Sox are 1.5 games back and the New York Yankees still have a theoretical chance just 7 games back.
Oakland is having a miserable year but they’ve still got a chance to avoid the AL West cellar. Not because they’re doing anything good (3-7 L10) but because the Los Angeles Angels are playing so terribly at the moment losing 5 straight and 7 of 10. The A’s are 1/2 game ahead of the last plays Angels but don’t be fooled into thinking that they’re not a disastrous team. They’re 16.5 games back of the first place Texas Rangers.
Baltimore will start their ‘ace’ right hander Chris Tillman. The Orioles have won 19 of Tillman’s 24 starts this season with a 7-4 road record. They’ve lost 2 of his last 3 starts. For the season Tilman has a 3.50 ERA and a 1.236 WHIP overall and a 3.24 ERA and 1.154 WHIP on the road. His last 3 ERA isn’t impressive (5.94) but that marginal number is due to one really bad start at Colorado (5 innings, 6 ER). In his last two games he’s allowed 5 ER in 11 2/3 innings pitched.
Oakland will counter with right hander Andrew Triggs. Triggs is a converted reliever who was acquired from Seattle. He’s split the season between the Mariners and Triple A Tacoma. He’s started only one game this year–June 18, 2016 when he went 3 innings allowing 3 hits and 1 earned run. Oakland has won 5 of the last 8 head to head in their home park including both games this year. Baltimore is just 24-32 -6.1 units on the road.
BET OAKLAND A’S +135 OVER BALTIMORE ORIOLES
