Rangers vs Athletics Prediction (August 8th) Betting Tips
The late game in Major League Baseball on Tuesday night will be between the Texas Rangers and the Oakland Athletics. This game is between two teams at polar opposites in the standings. The Rangers appear to be heading toward the playoffs and, quite possibly, an AL West pennant. Meanwhile, the Athletics have not been competitive all season as they prepare to pack up and head out of the Bay Area. The Rangers are on the road but they are strong favorites at -250 with bet365. They are one of the stronger favorites of the day of action. Our Rangers vs Athletics prediction focuses on the run line for sports bettors.
Rangers vs Athletics Prediction: Starting Pitcher Factor
The starting pitching matchup is a quality one. Max Scherzer, a trade-deadline acquisition, will start for the New York Mets. JP Sears will start for the Athletics. The two pitchers have some similar numbers as per the bullet points below.
- Scherzer: 4.04 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 130 strikeouts in 113.2 innings pitched
- Sears: 4.07 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 111 strikeouts in 121.2 innings pitched
Scherzer is much better than Sears when it comes to strikeouts. That’s an important consideration. Strikeouts prevent fielding errors, which prevent unearned runs. They also prevent baserunners from advancing or even scoring on a productive out. Those strikeouts are a part of the reason that Scherzer is 10-4 while Sears is 2-8. The other reason is just going to be that Scherzer, despite playing for the Mets for most of the season, played on a much better team than Sears.
Also, it will come as no surprise that the Athletics strike out a lot. This really could be a buffet for Scherzer, who is +105 to strike out more than 7.5 batters. Oakland is 7th in the Major Leagues in batter strikeouts this season. Regarding Scherzer, he is also a very motivated pitcher right now. He tallied a win in his Texas debut.
Our recommendation: Back Texas to win by 2 or more
But this is a game that’s about direction. Texas has won seven straight games. They are hard to oppose against the bottom team in Major League Baseball. Expect the Rangers to win this one by at least two runs. Our recommendation is to take them on the run line. Back Texas to cover -1.5 at odds of -140. Game time is 9:40 PM ET/6:40 PM PT.
