Wednesday night sees yet another heavy MLB slate on the schedule, and we will be previewing the Oakland Athletics (9-15, 4th in AL West) vs the New York Yankees (16-8, 1st in AL East) from Yankee Stadium, New York.
Tonight’s matchup is game three of a four-game series between the A’s and the Yankees. They have split the series 1-1 thus far after New York bounced back from an opening game 2-0 defeat with a 4-3 victory last night.
The first pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. ET as righty Joe Boyle (1-3) commands the hill for Oakland. The Yankees are starting fellow right-handed pitcher Clarke Schmidt (1-0). BetMGM have the hosts listed as -225 favorites on the moneyline, whilst the run line is set at -1.5 in favor of the Yankees (-105).
Last Time Out
It was a very solid start to the series for the Athletics as they took a 1-0 series lead following a 2-0 shutout victory at Yankee Stadium, courtesy of a very solid pitching performance led by JP Sears who allowed no runs off of six innings at an ERA of 3.38. Zack Gelof secured the win with the bat following his two-run homer in the ninth.
That ended a three-game skid for Oakland, but they failed to make it back-to-back wins last night as they lost 4-3 to New York. The A’s managed to claw it back to just a one-run deficit in the fourth, however, the Yankees relief staff of Ron Marinaccio, Caleb Ferguson, Dennis Santana and Clay Holmes managed to see out the win.
The Yankees bats have been pretty quiet of late, failing to score over five runs across any of their past five games. That also includes two shoutout losses to the Tampa Bay Rays and the A’s. However, they will take some confidence in scoring four against Oakland yesterday.
New York scored all four runs in the opening innings, featuring a two-run homer from Anthony Rizzo. Giancarlo Stanton also hit a two-RBI double to put the Yankees into the lead. That takes their home record on the season to 6-4.
Probable Pitchers
Boyle will need to put in a much-improved display tonight compared to his last outing against the Cleveland Guardians. The 24-year-old allowed seven runs from six innings during the 10-2 loss last Friday, taking his ERA to 7.23 and WHIP to 1.71 on the season. The Oakland righty has allowed a total of 16 runs from 18.2 innings so far in 2024. His career record is now at 3-3 with an ERA of 4.67 and a WHIP of 1.30. The visitors’ bullpen has been excellent so far this term, recording the fourth-best ERA (2.81) and seventh-best WHIP (1.16) in the MLB.
RHP Schmidt will toe the rubber for New York tonight, and he has been solid so far this season, allowing just eight runs off of 20 innings pitched. He allowed just one run from 5.1 innings during the 5-3 win in the Bronx against the Rays last Friday in his most recent game. His ERA on the season stands at 3.15 with a WHIP of 1.55 and 23 strikeouts. The Yankees bullpen has also been solid in 2024, ranking sixth in ERA (2.98) and 11th in WHIP (1.19).
Betting Trends & Stats
The woes with the bats have continued for the A’s who have scored a measly total of just 68 runs, averaging only 2.83 runs per game. They rank 29th across the league in batting average (.204), 28th in OBP (.277), 27th in SLG (.342) and 28th in OPS (.619). Oakland also has just 67 RBI on the season (29th) and they have stolen just 10 bases (25th).
Despite the Yankees’ bats being pretty quiet of late, they still rank in the middle of the pack for runs this season, scoring a total of 104 at an average of 4.33 per game. They are hitting at just .232 (21st), but rank better in terms of OBP at ninth (.325) and 19th in OPS (.688). New York hasn't had too many issues getting people on base since they rank second for walks (103). Their slugging needs some improvement, though, as they rank only 21st in the MLB (.363).
The road team have been marginally better when looking at the run line record thus far, and have a record of 12-12-0. The Yankees’ stands at 11-13-0 overall, and they have struggled to cover the spread at home as their run line record reads 3-8-0. Meanwhile, the A’s have covered excellently on the road, boasting the ninth-best run line record across the MLB (7-4-0).
Key Players
Gelof has been one of the better hitters amongst the poor offense of Oakland, scoring a total of 11 runs so far, but at an underwhelming batting average of .196. JJ Bleday has been hitting at a team-high .235, but has just four runs and one homer this season. Shea Langeliers has been the power hitter, leading the team with five home runs and 11 RBI.
Hitting at .319 this season sees Yankee Juan Soto rank inside the top 20 across the MLB, also hitting 15 runs and five home runs thus far. They are both joint-team-highs as Anthony Volpe has also hit 15 runs, whilst Stanton has five homers himself. Soto also leads the team in RBI (20) and walks (19).
Aaron Judge will need to start getting back in better form, however, since he is hitting at just .180 this season - his lowest batting average since his opening season. The boos may continue to ring around Yankee Stadium tonight if Judge’s poor streak continues.
Best Bet
The hosts will have gained a little more confidence after last night following their return to the win column, and even if Judge continues to struggle, the likes of Soto, Volpe and Stanton should have enough to score plenty of runs against Boyle who allowed seven runs in his last outing.
With the pitcher advantage, too, as Schmidt toes the rubber, he should have enough quality to keep the Oakland hitters quiet in this one and follow up his solid showing against Tampa Bay. There isn't too much value on the moneyline for a New York win here, but we feel confident about them covering and winning by at least two.
New York Yankees -1.5 (-105 with BetMGM)
