Free Picks: Los Angeles Angels vs. Oakland Athletics

Both Oakland and Los Angeles have interesting characteristics. The A’s starting the season on the wrong foot, while the Angels are scoring at will but are not a playoff team. Tuesday, these teams continue their series, which has been high-scoring. In this preview, I take a look at starting pitching and how it can impact total runs for one team.

For baseball fans blessed enough to watch late-night games on the West Coast, they have certainly been treated to some real doozy’s this season. 

Oakland is a top team in the AL West and everyone loves the dynamic duo of Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. Basically, if you can catch any West Coast team in action, it’s worth staying up for. 

Starting with this free MLB prediction, I think we have an interesting pitching matchup. LHP Andrew Heaney gets the start for Los Angeles. While his ERA this season is relatively high, his recent dominance makes this game intriguing. Heaney has a 4.37 ERA and 4-3 record, but is 2-0 in his last two outings with a 1.38 ERA.

Frankie Montas is starting for Oakland and has a high ERA as well at 4.37, but is 6-6 on the season. Montas has the ability to fan hitters at the dish (73 strikeouts) but needs to bring his ERA down.  

Even though Montas has shown promise, Los Angeles is still one of the highest-scoring teams in the Major Leagues. He has looked good in his last three starts, but I don’t know if I can trust him just yet. In his career, he has a 4.24 ERA over 6 seasons, so his current stretch might be an anomaly. 

Oakland’s relievers are nothing special, either. They currently have a 3.87 ERA. While they have a W/L record of 14-4, they have only been called upon in 216 innings. This means that the Athletics starting pitching group is doing a lot of the heavy lifting. 

I think for this free MLB pick I would look at away (LA) total runs. The Angels are one of the highest-scoring teams in the Majors and are the second highest-scoring team in night games.  Trout is still dealing with a calf-injury, but the Angels have had no trouble scoring in his absence.  

The outright winner doesn’t appeal to me, but the Angels’ offense does. For this BetPicks prediction, I trust the Angels offense to do some damage.

• Ohtani leads the Angels in RBI and HR.
• Oakland allowed 4 runs in last game against LAA with Montas on the mound (0 ER)
• LA’s offense ranks 8th in runs scored.