MLB Baseball Betting: Toronto Blue Jays at Oakland A’s
The second half of the MLB season resumes for ‘Canada’s team’ and when we last left the Toronto Blue Jays they were playing very good baseball. They’ve won 8 of their last 10 games and are now just a couple of games behind the first place Baltimore Orioles and neck and neck with the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox are also playing good baseball at the moment but the Orioles are just ‘treading water’ meaning that the Al East race could get really interesting real fast. The Oakland A’s are languishing through a forgettable season. They’re not bad enough to be among the worst teams in baseball but they’re not good enough to go anywhere. Currently, they’re in a pitched battle with the Los Angeles Angels for last place in the AL West and are 15 games back of the division leading Texas Rangers. If they could go on a run it would be reasonable for them to pick off some of the middle of the pack teams but a winning streak doesn’t appear to be forthcoming at this point–they’ve lost 7 of 10 and have been miserable at home this year (more about that in a moment).
Toronto has had a strange season. They were pegged to be one of the contenders for the AL East right out of the gate but instead they struggled. The way they struggled was even stranger–they were having trouble on offense. After absolutely brutalizing opponents at the plate in 2015 they were having trouble scoring runs. They were getting decent pitching and defense but just not putting up offensive numbers. That’s now changed and all is well for now. The Jays could use more bullpen depth but are otherwise in good shape. They’ve been very good against right handed pitchers this year (39-25 +7.7 units). Oakland, meanwhile, has struggled against right handers going 29-38 -6.2 units. The run output differential doesn’t look good either–the Jays are hitting .263 and averaging 5.4 runs per game against right handers. The A’s are hitting .243 and averaging 3.7 runs per game. And as we eluded to above, the A’s have been horrible at home with a 17-26 record that translates to a loss of -13.4 units. Only one way to play this game.
BET TORONTO BLUE JAYS -150 OVER OAKLAND A’S
