MLB Betting: The top two teams in the American League West meet on Thursday night on MLB Network as the Los Angeles Angels host the Oakland Athletics. The teams met a week ago in Oakland and it was the A’s making up ground on the Angels. This time around it is a four-game set in Anaheim with the first game on Thursday night. Let’s look at the matchup and MLB picks.
Probable Pitching Matchup – Jon Lester vs. C.J. Wilson
These two matched up last week in Oakland and each performed well as the A’s won in extra innings. Lester has made five starts for the A’s since coming over from Boston and he has been really good. He gave up just one run and five hits in seven innings last time out against the Angels. He has a 2.93 ERA in his five starts with Oakland. He is now 13-8 on the year with a 2.53 ERA.
C.J. Wilson pitched well last week against A’s as he allowed just one run and five hits in just over six innings. Wilson has not been great this season as his overall record is just 10-8 and his ERA is just 4.45. The Angels have a really good bullpen so they just need Wilson to go six innings and keep the team in the game.
Series Notes
The A’s did well last week at home so the Angels will be trying to return the favor in this four-game series. The teams have split their last ten games in Anaheim with five of the last eight going under. The teams met for a three-game set back in June and it was the Angels winning two of three games at home with all three games low scoring. Both teams are potent on offense as they each rank in the top five in runs per game and each team is also strong in terms of pitching as the A’s are in the top five while the Angels are just outside the top ten in ERA.
MLB Picks
The pitching matchup favors the A’s in this one so we’ll look for Oakland to win this one and for the game to go under the total.
