MLB Over/Under Bet of the Day
Texas Rangers at Oakland Athletics
Over/Under: 8
First pitch: 4:07 p.m. ET
Probable pitchers: Taylor Hearn (2-3, 5.77 ERA) vs. Zach Logue (2-3, 4.43 ERA)
OK, maybe not the most promising pitching matchup on tap in Oakland today. But it’s one that presents a buy-low opportunity featuring two left-handed starters facing offenses that haven’t particularly stood out against southpaws.
And these aren’t two terrible starters, either. Yeah, Taylor Hearn may be carrying an unpleasant 5.77 ERA into this one but he’s mostly been hanging in there, yielding three runs or fewer in the majority of his assignments. Meanwhile, Zach Logue has fared relatively well for a former ninth-round draft pick that only made his first MLB start a few weeks ago.
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The key in tapping into each pitcher’s better work will lean on how both these lineups are kind of lackluster when seeing a left-handed pitcher as the opposition.
Texas, of course, registered the lowest team OPS (.652) in all of baseball last year against lefties. Additionally, their batting average (.233) ranked them second-to-last in the American League. While the club certainly made splashes revamping the batting order this past offseason, it still hasn’t translated into much success when encountering left-handed pitching. Their average in this department (.230) is actually lower, in fact.
The one enhancement for the Rangers facing lefties has been the inflated number of long balls, but let’s consider the site of today’s ballgame, the Oakland… err, RingCentral Coliseum, which is one of the pitcher-friendlier parks around — including among the toughest to go yard.
On the other side, A’s have been worse when taking on a left-hander. As a team, they’ve churned out a .653 OPS and .222 batting average, both marks placing them in the bottom third of the Majors. Oakland constructed similar finishes in those rankings in each of the past two seasons.
Along with that, Hearn did look good in his lone assignment versus the A’s last September, even notching a quality start. Remember, too, that this is a far less potent lineup from last year’s iteration.
As for if Logue can handle Texas, well, he was going steady prior to his last outing, in which he got tagged for seven runs in Seattle. However, we’ll deem that a learning experience for the Kentucky product and attempt to pan out a bounce-back effort. Most of the Rangers batting order today doesn’t look that intimidating.
That mouth-watering total of 8, which isn’t a common occurrence for games in Oakland, makes this one stand out extra. Cinch in on that number before a change.
Pick:
2022 MLB Over/Under Betting Record*: “25-19-5,” +3.23 units
Yesterday’s Result: Giants-Reds Under 8.5 (WIN)
*Each bet graded as if it were to win 1 unit
