Baseball Odds: The Oakland Athletics host the Kansas City Royals on Friday night in the opener of a three-game series. The A’s have been leading the American League West for most of the season but they have not been able to pull away from the Los Angeles Angels. On the other side, the Royals are still very much in the Wild Card race in the American League. Here is a look at Friday’s contest and baseball predictions.
Probable Pitching Matchup – Jeremy Guthrie vs. Sonny Gray
The Royals should be going with Jeremy Guthrie on Friday night. He has a record of 6-9 on the season with a 4.70 ERA. He is definitely the weak link in the Kansas City rotation. He has just one win in his last five starts and even in that win he didn’t pitch well. In his last three starts he is 1-2 with a 9.19 ERA. He has a 3-4 career record against the A’s with a 4.80 ERA.
Sonny Gray has been excellent this season for the A’s as he is 12-3 with a 2.65 ERA. He allowed just one run on seven hits last time out against the Texas Rangers. The numbers for Gray are no fluke as he allowed just 115 hits in 139 innings and he has struck out 121 batters this season. If not for Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners, Gray might be the favorite to win the AL Cy Young.
Series Notes
The A’s have won six of the last ten in this series. The teams have not met in over a year as they last played in KC last July when the A’s took two of three. They have not played in Oakland since May of last year. The A’s have won seven of the last 10 at home in this series with the last three going under the total.
Baseball Predictions
This one looks like a complete mismatch as the A’s are the superior team and they should have a big pitching edge with Gray against Guthrie. We’ll look for Oakland to win this one by a convincing margin on Friday night.
