The bottom of the AL West will meet to kick off a three-game series at Angel Stadium on Monday.
Both Los Angeles and Oakland won their last respective series as underdogs against the Mariners and the Orioles, respectively. The Angels, who hold a 5 ½ game lead over the Athletics, are heavily favored to take the series opener. They swept the A’s on the road less than a month ago, averaging seven runs per game.
Oakland will send out Jeffery Springs (5-4, 4.66 ERA) to challenge Yusei Kikuchi (1-5, 3.23 ERA). Neither pitcher made an appearance in the previous series.
I’ll break down a player prop and a game prediction for this on Monday.
Run Line
Moneyline
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Kikichi’s home run is down this season, but he’s allowed all eight of his home runs to right-handed hitting this year. Rooker comes into this game with a .537 xSLG, placing him amongst the game’s most elite power hitters. Angels Stadium is one of the game’s most home run-prone parks in the game, seeing the fourth-most of them over the past three seasons. Rooker’s +300 price reflects wonderful value in this market.
Springs has quietly been effective in getting soft contact off hitters. He’s pitching well above average in reducing high exit velocity and hard hit rates on his Statcast profile. Springs can use that momentum to his advantage against an Angels lineup that is 27th overall in weighted runs created plus.
May was an utter disgrace for the A’s, but they’re coming off an upset series win over the Orioles and get a favorable matchup against Kikuchi on Monday. Kikuchi’s numbers are inflated with a 1.59 WHIP, a high hard-contact rate and a climbing 12.9 walk rate. This says there could be trouble on the way especially against an Oakland lineup that’s found consistency against southpaws, ranking second in BABIP.
Pick: Athletics (+130 at FanDuel)
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