Athletics vs. Yankees Free MLB Picks and Preview (Archive)
The Yankees have had high-pressure weeks going up against the best teams in the American League. Tonight, they’ll be able to calm down a bit going up against the Oakland Athletics at home. Can the Athletics put up a fight? Let’s see what the MLB odds tell us at the best sportsbooks!
Oakland Athletics vs. New York Yankees
Monday, June 27, 2022 – 07:05 PM EDT at Yankee Stadium
The New York Yankees salvaged a home series against the Astros with a walk-off win on Sunday. The Yankees have had a stressful couple of weeks, having to face the Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, and Houston Astros.
Tonight, they’ll start a new series against the 25-49 Oakland Athletics. That should help calm things down. Here are our picks and predictions for tonight’s game between the Yankees and Athletics.
The Pitching Matchup
The Oakland Athletics will pitch right-hander Paul Blackburn, who is 6-3 with a 2.97 ERA. Blackburn has been one of the few bright spots for the Athletics this season and actually has a winning record with the Athletics.
However, in the last 30 days, Blackburn has had a 4.78 xFIP with just 15% of strikeouts in the last 30 days. Lefties have a .441 wOBA and ISO of .314 against him. That’s where he's going to be vulnerable.
Meanwhile, the Yankees will send out left-hander Jordan Montgomery. Montgomery has a 3-1 record with a 2.97 ERA. In the last 30 days, Montgomery has struck out just 16.7% of batters but has still earned 51% of grounders.
Montgomery has limited power and wOBA in the last 30 days against both sides of the plate but still only has three wins on the year. The offense doesn’t really give him much support.
Who Has the More Favorable Lineup?
The Yankees have crushed right-handed pitching this season. In the last 30 days, the Yankees’ projected lineup has a .218 ISO and wOBA of .339 along with 11.2% of walks.
Meanwhile, the Athletics have been dreadful against lefties in the last 30 days. The projected lineup for Oakland has a .099 ISO and wOBA of .281 with over 50% of ground balls hit.
Oakland also walks just 6.7% of the time and has hit just above 20% of line drives in that same time frame with the projected lineup. Things haven’t gone smoothly for Oakland.
Game Prediction
Even when the Yankees are struggling, they find ways to win. They’ve had a rough schedule recently but now get a home series against the worst American League team in baseball. That should help calm everyone down.
The Yankees clearly have the better offense in this game. Lefties like Anthony Rizzo, Aaron Hicks, and Joey Gallo should have success against Blackburn, who has really struggled against lefties. Of course, righties like Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Jose Trevino match up well as they’ve all hit righties very well recently.
Meanwhile, Jordan Montgomery has had a lot of success this year against much harder opponents. Oakland has just three batters hitting an above-average ISO number against lefties and they’ve got just one batter hitting a wOBA that’s higher than .321 against lefties.
Only Ramon Laureano is a true threat against Montgomery in this game. He has a .226 ISO and wOBA of .430 against lefties in the last 30 days. Everyone else in the lineup has flat
The Pick
The Yankees should easily win the series over Oakland, at home. Lefties like Anthony Rizzo, Aaron Hicks, and Joey Gallo should have success over Blackburn while Montgomery should be able to cruise past a very bad Oakland Athletics lineup tonight.
Even righties in the Yankees lineup can have success, other than Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who have both really struggled against righties in the last 30 days.
But we’re not going to sit here and take a -295
The Yankees were no-hit for nearly two straight games and still found a way to win last night. That’s due to great pitching and timely hitting when it’s needed the most. So let’s take the Yankees with our MLB pick of the day.
MLB Pick: Yankees -1.5 (-150) with 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.