MLB Free Picks: Texas Rangers vs. Oakland Athletics

Author: Mansi

With a total of 30 teams, Major League Baseball (MLB) is one of the oldest major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. Out of the 30 teams, 29 teams are composed in the United States and 1 in Canada. Each year MLB schedules a play-off of 162 games, and the top five teams in each league advance to a four-round postseason tournament that culminates in the World Series. MLB is the second wealthiest professional sports league by revenue after the NFL (National Football League).

2020 MLB season

This year the MLB season was supposed to begin by 26 March but has been shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic. After restoring peaceful situations, MLB kicked off this year on the 23 July with defending World Series champion Washington Nationals facing the New York Yankees and is scheduled to host finals on 29 September. Furthermore, there have been no other significant changes announced.

Texas Rangers vs. Oakland Athletics

The match between Texas Rangers and Oakland Athletics is scheduled to be on 5th August 2020 at 9.10 pm ET (6th August 2020, 6.40 am IST) at Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, California.

This game on Wednesday is a game of super high ambition of the Texas Rangers as they have not played well at the start of the season and have managed only three wins through their first eight games.

The Oakland Athletics, holding a tight grip over the season, has played well so far, winning six of their first ten games. They are currently leading the AL West standings and will try further to increase their lead with a win over the Rangers.

Texas Rangers: Picks

Texas statistics present that it is not a good offensive team. They hold .195 batting average and are 27th in the league. Their slugging percentage of .348 stands 25th, while the 27 runs they have scored finds 24th spot in the league.

Joey Gallo leads the team with a .310 batting average, three home runs, and eight RBI has been the big bat for the Texas Rangers. He is putting an eye on the last game of the team, which ended in a 4-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks as a weak performance by Kyle Gibson, where he gave up five hits, and also three earned runs in five innings. The team must expect the best exercise of the potential which Mr.Gibson holds to get past the Oakland Athletics.

Oakland Athletics: Picks

Oakland has been struggling offensively. The team has a .204 batting average, which is 26th in the league. It holds a .323 slugging percentage and is 27th, while the 41 runs they have scored finds 17th spot in the league.

Ramon Laureano leads the team with a .324 batting average, two home runs, and nine RBI and has been their next offensive weapon. Sean Manaea, although being one of the most talked-of players of the team, gave up six hits and five runs in 4.1 innings, which led to a 5-3 loss to Seattle. Oakland will need a wonderful start from Manaea to give themselves towards winning this game.

Comparatively, the Oakland Athletics have held a better stats than the Texas Rangers. Opponents have a .222 batting average against the Oaklands, which is 14th in the league. Oaklands’ WHIP of 1.14 is 10th on the list, while their 2.87 ERA is fifth in the league.

On the counterpart, Texas’ pitching has been a little better than their offense. Opponents have a .218 batting average against the team, which is 11th in the league. They secure the 23rd spot in the list with 1.37 WHIP, and the 17th spot with 4.24 ERA is 17th.

Summary

The Texas Rangers have a clear starting pitching edge in this contest with Lance Lynn on the mound, as Lynn puts forward a 5.66 ERA and 31 strikeouts in his career against the Oakland Athletics. However, the Athletics are far away, the complete team delivering better offenses. The Oakland Athletics also finally came to life after last night's win, as that batting order is way too talented to be held to three or fewer runs every game.

The Texas Rangers surely need to keep a check on the Athletics' bats heating up, as the Rangers team aren't scoring runs so far this season, and they're going to be in a world of trouble if it happens so. Texas needs a win here which could head to heal the damage they have brought with the only three wins in their past eight matches this season.

PREDICTION: Texas Rangers- 120