New York Yankees at Oakland Athletics
The Yankees open up a 4-game set at Oakland Coliseum looking to continue their playoff surge against the Athletics. These are 2 teams headed in different directions with the Yankees riding an 11 game winning streak while the A’s are on a 4 game skid. In a vacuum, this is a great spot to bet on the Yankees. It’s hard to do it when they’re on an 11-game winning streak, with a loss feeling imminent, but a good rule to follow in betting is to ride the wave instead of guessing when it will end. With recent results out the window, the Yankees are undoubtedly the stronger offense, They’ve posted a 123 wRC+ over the last 2 weeks to rank 5th in baseball, bringing up their ISO to .228 over that span. The walks are still coming at a ridiculous pace, and the strikeouts have come in bunches too, but the home runs and extra base hits that were so obviously missing have finally come to fruition. Jameson Taillon will take the mound for the Yanks. He is 8-4 with a 3.94 ERA and 1.21 WHIP across 123.1 innings pitched this season. Since the break, Taillon has pitched to an excellent 1.99 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 3.29 FIP in 40.2 innings pitched. Righty James Kapriellian will toe the rubber tonight for the A’s. He is 7-4 with a 3.25 ERA and 1.17 WHIP in 88.2 innings this year. Kapriellian has regressed a bit in the 2nd half where he has pitched to a 4.05 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and 5.19 xFIP in 26.2 innings since the break. Kaprellian, who has been effective this season in the face of underwhelming barrel and hard-hit rates. With hard contact his nemesis, it’s going to be a tricky proposition to face a Yankees team with a beefy 11.2% barrel rate over the last 14 days, a number which leads the major leagues by a considerable margin. The Yankees have been thriving in all facets of the game lately and rank in the top 5 of the majors in slugging percentage (.494), OPS (.822), ISO (.259), wOBA (.351) and wRC+ (124) in the past week. On the other hand, Oakland’s bats rank in the bottom 3rd of the league in hits (42), homeruns (5th), runs scored (19th), batting average (.213), wOBA (.277) and wRC+ (78) in the past 7 days. Again, the A’s have sputtered at the plate in August and Jameson Taillon has been adequate, to the tune of a 3.18 ERA. He’s been one of the very best pitchers in baseball in the 2nd half and matches up quite nicely against a team which has struggled to drive the ball lately. The bullpens on both teams have been pitching well by posting a WHIP below 1.16 and both have ERAs under 3.20 in the past 30 days. The edge goes to the Yankees to continue their surge and take Game 1 of the series on the road.
New York Yankees -1.5 (+145)
