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It was perfection yesterday for the New York Yankees in their victory over the Oakland Athletics. It's time to continue our MLB odds series with a Yankees-Athletics prediction, pick, and how-to-watch.
Last night Domingo German threw the 24th perfect game in MLB history. It is the fourth in Yankees history and first for a Yankees since 1999 when David Cone threw one. According to ESPN Stats and Information, he is the first Dominican-born player to have a perfect game, and also the first to do so after giving up ten or more runs in his prior start. He did all of this in 99 pitches, and now he will live in baseball immortality.
The Athletics could be on their way to baseball immortality as well but for a completely different reason. With that loss, the Athletics drop to 21-61 on the season. That places them on pace to lose 121 games this year, which would top the 1962 Mets for the most losses in a single season in the modern era.
Here are the Yankees-Athletics MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB Odds: Yankees-Athletics Odds
New York Yankees: -1.5 (-110)
Oakland Athletics: +1.5 (-110)
Over: 8.5 (-105)
Under: 8.5 (-115)
How To Watch Yankees vs. Athletics
TV: YES/NBCSCA
Stream: MLB.TV
Time: 3:37 PM ET/ 12:37 PM PT
*Watch MLB games LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why The Yankees Could Cover The Spread
The Yankees are now 44-36 on the season and have won three of their last four games. Beyond the perfect game from Domingo German, the Yankees have had solid pitching this year. They are first in the majors in team ERA, second in opponent batting average, and fifth in WHIP. They are sitting tied for 22nd in quality starts, as the starting pitching has either been giving up runs or not going deep into starts. That was not the case last night. German kept his pitch count low and had no issues mowing down A's batters.
Clarke Schmidt will be hoping to keep it going today. He is just 2-6 on the season with a 4.32 ERA. He has been solid in June though. This month, Schmidt has pitched 21.1 innings, giving up 21 hits, and seven runs with only six earned. That gives him a 2.53 ERA for the month and his best stretch of pitching of the season. He is not striking out a ton of batters, with just 11 strikeouts in his last four games, but he has been efficient. The issue has been, he is not getting run support. He is 0-1 on the month, as he has received two or fewer runs of support in each of his last six starts.
The Yankees are still missing the biggest bat in their offense, with Aaron Judge out, but he could be back soon from a toe injury. Giancarlo Stanton needs to step up in his absence. It has been a bad month for him though, as he is hitting just .138 this month. He has just three home runs and six RBIs in that time as well. In his last four games, he has been better though. He is hitting .384 in his last four games, with four RBIs and a home run. If he can continue to improve, the Yankees could be winning a lot more games.
Josh Donaldson is in a similar situation. He is hitting just .143 this month, with ten RBIs and six home runs. In this series with the Athletics, he has been better. He has a home run and a double with three RBIs in the two games. He has also struck out five times though, and now has struck out 19 times this month. The Yankees cannot expect a perfect game every night, so they need to figure out how to score some runs.
Why The Athletics Could Cover The Spread
It was an awful night for the Athletics last night. They saw 27 batters come to the plate, and 27 batters walk right back to the dugout. While this is a new pinnacle of low for the Athletics offense, the offense has been bad all year long. They are last in the majors in runs, batting average, and slugging this year. They sit 27th in on-base percentage. Since winning seven in a row, they have lost 11 of 13. In the win streak, the Athletics scored 41 runs. In the 13 games since they have scored just 31 runs.
The team leader in RBIs is Brent Rooker, who is tied for 72nd in the majors with 38 on the season. He does not have an RBI since June 13th and has just six in the month. It has been a bad month for Rooker. He is hitting just .172 with 27 strikeouts and two home runs. Esteury Ruiz is second in RBIs and is the team leader in batting average. He is having a slightly better month than Rooker. Ruiz is hitting .239 on the month with eight RBIs. He has five doubles as well and has scored seven times.
James Kaprielian is expected to get the start today for the Athletics. Kaprielian is 2-6 on the season with a 6.34 ERA. Much of that is ballooned by his early struggles and time in the bullpen this season. This month Kaprielian has made four starts and pitched well in them. He has gone 23.1 innings while giving up ten runs, nine earned. Last time out he struck out eight batters and gave up four runs. It got him the no-decision as the Athletics defeated the Blue Jays. This month, the A's have won three of the four games Kaprielian has started.
Final Yankees-Athletics Prediction & Pick
It is very difficult to follow perfection. Since 2000 there have been seven perfect games. The team who threw the perfect game has done 5-2 the next day while covering 1.5 runs in four of them. The Yankees are the better team than the Athletics. For as bad as their offense has been, the Athletics are worse. Schmidt has been a solid pitcher as of late. He will not throw a perfect game today, and will most likely give up two or three runs, but he will get enough support to get the win.
Final Yankees-Athletics Prediction & Pick: Yankees -1.5 (-110)