The New York Yankees take on the Oakland Athletics. Check out our MLB odds series for our Yankees Athletics prediction and pick.
Domingo German gets the call for the Yankees, while Adam Oller will start for the Athletics.
Domingo German has made seven starts for the Yankees this year, having been pressed into service after Luis Severino got hurt. His first two appearances were rough, but in his last five outings, he has been superb, pitching to a 2.67 ERA and giving the Yankees roughly 5 1/3 innings per start. German has pitched at least six full innings in two of his last three starts, giving up only one earned run in each of those outings. The Yankees would be thrilled if German can deliver that pitching line on most occasions. Certainly against a weak-hitting Oakland batting order, the Yankees hope German can eat up innings and save the bullpen for the bigger battles to come — against the American League East in September, and then the big show in October.
Adam Oller didn't pitch very much for the A's in the first two months of the season. In June he was used as a reliever. In July, he became a regular part of the Oakland starting rotation with Frankie Montas having shoulder problems and Paul Blackburn having health concerns as well. In Oller's run as a starting pitcher over the past two months, he has pitched 37 1/3 innings and allowed 20 earned runs, putting his ERA in that time frame near five runs. Oller pitches into the sixth inning on average and allows close to three runs. That's a five-run-per-nine-inning formula. His overall ERA for the year is 6.41, but he is pitching a lot better than that number right now. He had some disastrous early-season appearances which caused his numbers to skyrocket. Over the last two months, he hasn't been good, but he hasn't been as awful as some of the surface numbers might indicate. If he pitches 5 1/3 innings and gives up three runs to this Yankee team, he will have exceeded expectations, to be brutally honest.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Yankees-Athletics MLB odds.
MLB Odds: Yankees-Athletics Odds
New York Yankees: -1.5 (-134)
Oakland Athletics: +1.5 (+112)
Over: 8 (-112)
Under: 8 (-108)
Why The Yankees Could Cover the Spread
The Yankees are back. They were getting the pitching they needed, but the bats were dead. Now the bats have shown signs of coming alive. The 13-4 in in Oakland on Thursday, with Giancarlo Stanton back in the lineup, showed what this team is capable of, and also what this team is likely to do, with more pieces in the batting order. It's natural that when a player of Stanton's caliber is removed from the equation, the team's hitting would suffer. Thursday's blowout against a mediocre pitcher, James Kaprielian, is a clear indicator of what the Yankees are likely to do here on Saturday against another mediocre arm, Adam Oller.
J.P. Sears, a former Yankee, is a good pitcher who was motivated to perform well against his former club on Friday. Against Oller, the Yankees should rake, much as they did on Thursday versus Kaprielian. All they need is a decent (average) start from Domingo German. That should be enough to win a 7-4 or 6-3 game.
Why The Athletics Could Cover the Spread
Domingo German is a fine pitcher, but he is not a great one. The A's have a chance to score several runs. Adam Oller is not their best pitcher, but if you have followed Oller's progression over the course of the season, you know he has steadily lowered his ERA and is moving in the right direction. The A's held the Yankees to three runs on Friday. It's clear they know what the game plan is. They just have to execute it.
Final Yankees-Athletics Prediction & Pick
New York's low-output game on Friday — with Aaron Judge providing the Yankees' only runs on one swing — should leave the Bronx Bombers motivated to perform a lot better on Saturday. Expect New York to feast on Adam Oller.
Final Yankees Athletics Prediction & Pick: Yankees -1.5
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