The Oakland Athletics take on the Los Angeles Angels. Check out our MLB odds series for our Athletics Angels prediction and pick.
James Kaprielian goes to the hill for the Athletics, while Shohei Ohtani gets the ball for the Angels.
James Kaprielian has a 4.50 ERA, but he has not taken a conventional, straight path to that ERA number. His ERA in May was 5.93. His ERA in the month of June was 5.84. In July, his ERA was 1.93. In July, Kaprielian pitched 28 innings, giving up only six runs and just two homers. Is he going to remain on this new and impressive path, or will he regress and become more like the subpar pitcher he was in May and June? That's the question everyone is asking.
Shohei Ohtani has a 2.81 ERA, but that statistic doesn't do justice to the quality of his pitching in June and July. Ohtani's ERA is only that high because a July 22 start against the Atlanta Braves went from brilliant to bitter in one third of an inning. Ohtani threw six scoreless innings but then got tagged a bunch in the seventh, for six runs. The Angels had not scored in the first six and a half innings, so Ohtani — in a 0-0 game in the bottom of the seventh — tried to be overly precise with his pitches and missed a few locations. If the Angels had given him a few runs, Ohtani would have been able to loosen up and pitch with a little more margin. Take away those six runs in one third of an inning, and his ERA would be several tenths of a run lower. His June ERA was 1.52, and his July ERA would have been well under three runs if he didn't have that one bad seventh inning against the World Series champions. He is very much in a groove on the mound after a rocky period in the first two months of the season. (His ERA was 3.99 on June 2.)
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Athletics-Angels MLB odds.
MLB Odds: Athletics-Angels Odds
Oakland Athletics: +1.5 (-110)
Los Angeles Angels: -1.5 (-110)
Over: 7 (-110)
Under: 7 (-110)
Why The Athletics Could Cover the Spread
James Kaprielian has a 1.02 ERA and 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings in three career starts against the Angels. The A's pitchers are very underrated if only because they get very little run support and play in front of tiny crowds for a team going nowhere. The A's can certainly limit the Angels' bats. They allowed only three runs on Tuesday and can do even better on Wednesday.
Why The Angels Could Cover the Spread
Shohei Ohtani has struck out at least 10 batters in six straight starts, the longest such streak of starts in Major League Baseball since Gerrit Cole did so in nine straight starts in 2019. Ohtani has wipeout stuff and is executing his pitches really well. Going up against the weak-hitting A's, Ohtani should once again be able to strike out a ton of hitters and post another great pitching line. The Angels are due to hit Kaprielian better than they have in the past. That incredible stat line for Kaprielian against the Halos is unsustainable.
Final Athletics-Angels Prediction & Pick
Ohtani should pitch really well, and Kaprielian is unlikely to continue his remarkable mastery of the Angels in a small sample size. Take the Halos here.
Final Athletics-Angels Prediction & Pick: Angels -1.5
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