The Oakland A’s and Los Angeles Angels both entered the 2021 season with the hopes of competing, but both have failed miserably to get footing in the AL West race. The Astros have asserted their dominance all year long, and the Mariners have made a serious charge at Oakland for the second spot in the division, sitting just two games behind the A’s and eight back of Houston.
With a seemingly impossible task ahead with trying to catch the Astros, it doesn’t help that the A’s have been in a slump. On the other hand, the Angels have begun to win some games in hopes of making a last-ditch effort for the playoffs. Will the trends continue on Thursday? Here’s where you should be looking the top-rated sportsbooks.
Thursday, July 29, 2021 – 9:38 PM EDT at Angel Stadium
A big win in San Diego on Tuesday helped the Oakland Athletics snap a four-game losing streak and rediscover what was once a very potent offense. The ballclub put together an 11-hit performance, and received a mammoth three-run bomb from slumping third baseman Matt Chapman en route to a 10-4 win. Chapman is only one of the once-threatening A’s bats that need to wake up, but it’s certainly a start.
Oakland has slipped to an aforementioned six games back of Houston and needs to start winning some ballgames, and offense seems to be the last piece of the puzzle. It got yet another great pitching performance from Sean Manaea in the win over the Padres, and the bullpen has not only been pitching decently, it’s not got some new arms in the fray, namely Kendall Graveman.
The problem here for the A’s is that Frankie Montas will be starting this game, and that’s bad news because he’s just been flat-out mediocre in 2021. He’s allowed an average exit velocity of 90.4 this year and a hard-hit rate of 45.3 percent, which are incredibly concerning numbers. They’re especially noteworthy considering rockets off the bat were never something the sinker-baller had dealt with, and someone who relies on the sinker so much and pitches to contact is uber-reliant on soft contact to get through games.
For your MLB odds, I mention pitching to contact because, well, strikeouts are down once again for Montas in 2021. It’s not as if a 25.3% strikeout rate is bad, but it’s also continuing on with a steady decline. The offense may be picking things up, and it will need to really pick them up with runs sure to be scored for the Angels.
Speaking of whom, the Angels are in a strange situation. They’ve crawled back to one game over .500 without their star, Mike Trout, and despite feeling like they’re out of the rate, they technically aren’t. This team has now won five of seven games and sits just 11 back of Houston in fourth place out West, with plenty of games to go against the Astros, A’s and Mariners to wrap the season. It’s not impossible, and crazier comebacks have happened. On top of this, we know this Los Angeles team is brimming with talent.
Over the last week, the Angels own just a 102 wRC+, thanks to a middling .190 ISO and average strikeout and walk numbers. It’s not as if they’re really striking out a lot — that’s probably their best quality — but the contact just hasn’t netted them much without the big blow. Instead, like Los Angeles, pitching has been important. With an emergency start from Dylan Bundy on the horizon, who had struggled so much in the rotation so mightily months ago that he was moved to the bullpen, I’m not so sure I like the conditions here for an Angels win.
I see a hefty bunch of runs being scored in this game and will back the over with confidence, seeing as the total tends to rise whenever Montas takes the ball for the A’s. Furthermore, I do like the chances of the Angels connecting on a big blow here with so much hard contact coming against Montas. Contact-happy teams against starters who allow a lot of hard contact tend to break through. Take it into consideration for your MLB picks.
MLB Pick: Over 9 (-115) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.