Major League Baseball is in the final month of the regular season and with most divisional races long ago decided the focus turns to the wild card standings. The Oakland Athletics aren’t going to run down the Houston Astros in the AL West–they trail Houston by 10.5 games–but they’ve got a good shot of picking up a wild card berth. They’re currently 1 game back of Cleveland for the final wild card spot and 1.5 back of Tampa Bay for the top wild card seed. They’ve got a great opportunity to pick up ground as they welcome the bumbling Los Angeles Angels to town for a three game series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oakland dropped two of three against the Yankees in New York over the weekend but they’ve been very strong at home all season long. They’ve made +15.7 units overall on the year with most of the damage being done at RingCentral Coliseum where Oakland is 43-24 +14.2 units. The Angels have lost a ton of money in all settings this year (-15.3 units) and are 30-41 -6.8 units on the road. They come to town having dropped 8 of their last 10 games (-6.55 units) and have dropped 9 of 14 head to head against Oakland this year (-4.0 units). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Halo’s right hander Jaime Barria has pitched reasonably well in his recent starts but has been undone by the LA bullpen. In his last two starts at Houston and Texas he went 5 1\/3 and 5 innings respectively giving up 2 earned runs in each game. He didn’t fare as well on 8\/9 in Boston allowing 5 ER in 5 innings of work. The bottom line, however, is that the Angels have lost his last three starts and 5 of his 7 road assignments this season. Oakland has made money against right handed starters this season going 54-46 +3.8 units. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oakland will counter with right hander Michael Fiers who has been excellent all season long. Oakland has won 18 of his 27 starts overall (+10.2 units), 11 of 14 at home (+8.2 units) and his last three assignments. YTD he’s got a 3.31 ERA with a 2.40 home ERA. The A’s have done a nice job supporting their pitchers this season putting up 5.1 runs per game. The Angels have been dominated by AL West opponents this year (27-37 -14 units) and that trend should continue tonight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n