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The Toronto Blue Jays take on the Oakland Athletics. Check out our MLB odds series for our Blue Jays Athletics prediction and pick.
Alek Manoah takes the ball for the Blue Jays, while Cole Irvin goes to the mound for the Athletics.
Alek Manoah is a Cy Young Award contender. He has a 2.09 ERA. He has given up more than three earned runs only once this season, more than two earned runs only twice. He has been relentlessly consistent, and when he gives up three runs in a start, it's on the lower end of his performances this season. Manoah made offseason adjustments in which his slider has more bite and late-breaking movement. He uses that slider in combinations with his fastball which make both pitches more effective. He is able to run the fastball in toward the hitter and use the slider to get hitters to chase pitches away. Manoah has been slightly less effective in recent starts, but that's mostly because the Yankees and Red Sox worked a lot of counts and forced him to make a lot of pitches in stressful situations. We'll see if the A's can apply that same batter-by-batter pressure to Manoah.
Cole Irvin has a 3.58 ERA, which is obviously not elite but is also entirely respectable. Irvin has certainly pitched better than dozens of other starters in the American League. He has been competent, steady, and dependable for the A's. You might be shocked to learn that Oakland has not won any of Irvin's last nine starts. It's true that his ERA has risen over those nine starts, but only by two-thirds of a run, from 2.93 on April 30 to the current 3.58 number. Irvin has given up two runs or fewer in four of his last nine starts, and the A's couldn't win any of those. This losing streak is highly improbable in light of the way Irvin has pitched. He hasn't failed the A's. Oakland's hitters just haven't given him any help.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Blue Jays-Athletics MLB odds.
MLB Odds: Blue Jays-Athletics Odds
Toronto Blue Jays: -1.5 (-156)
Oakland Athletics: +1.5 (+130)
Over: 7.5 (-110)
Under: 7.5 (-110)
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Why The Blue Jays Could Cover the Spread
Alek Manoah is the ace of the Toronto staff. He is very likely to limit a light-hitting Oakland team on the scoreboard. The A's are 8-15 against the American League East so far this season, with a minus-28 run differential against teams from that division. It's pretty easy to see why Toronto is a solid favorite in this game. The odds are heavily stacked against the A's.
Why The Athletics Could Cover the Spread
After they got shut down in consecutive games by the Seattle Mariners, you might wonder how the A's will beat Manoah and the Jays. Start with this: Toronto has struggled with West Coast road trips in previous years. It's true that the Jays didn't have teams which were as good as this one is, but it remains that the long Western trip has tripped up Toronto in previous seasons. Also consider the point that Cole Irvin is a much better pitcher than his record might suggest. He can contain a Toronto team which has lost three games in a row, and did not get many clutch hits on Saturday and Sunday against the Rays.
Final Blue Jays-Athletics Prediction & Pick
Picking Alek Manoah to win, and picking against the A's in the process, is not something you are likely to regret.
Final Blue Jays-Athletics Prediction & Pick: Blue Jays -1.5
