The Los Angeles Angels and the Oakland Athletics will get an early jump on an extended four-game weekend series this Thursday night at the Oakland County Coliseum. Game 1 of this AL West clash is set to get underway at 10:05 p.m. (ET), and it will be available on MLB Extra Innings.

The Angels have just three victories in their last 10 games heading into Wednesday afternoon’s series finale against Minnesota at home. They are 11 full games in back of Oakland in the division with an overall record of 46-52. The total has stayed “under” in six of their last seven games.

The Athletics have been treading water the past few weeks with a 5-5 record in their last 10 games. They wrap up a three-game set against Houston on the road this Wednesday afternoon before returning home where they are a solid 30-15 this season. Overall they are 58-42 and hold a three-game lead over Texas in the division. The total has stayed under in nine of their last 10 games.

Angels at Athletics Betting Storylines

This has to be considered a lost season for Los Angeles after opening the year as the clear favorite to win the AL West. Despite all the firepower in their lineup, the Angels have been unable to develop any kind of consistency at the plate. They are ranked eighth in the American League in scoring with an average of 4.4 runs a game. However, they have only eclipsed this mark twice in their last 13 games.

Look for CJ Wilson to get the start for Los Angeles on Thursday night. The left-hander completely shut Oakland down just this past Saturday in one of his best efforts of the season. He allowed zero runs on three hits over 8 1/3 innings to pick up his 10th win of the season. He comes into this matchup with an overall ERA of 3.15, and lifetime against the A’s he is 9-7 with a 3.41 ERA.

Oakland is definitely not known as one of the more powerful hitting teams in the AL with an overall batting average of .244, but it has done a good job at squeezing as much production as possible out of this lineup with an average of 4.4 runs a game. This has not been the case for much of the month of July, but the A’s appear to working their way out of a scoring funk with 14 runs in their last three games.

Fortunately, Oakland remains the top pitching team in the AL with a staff ERA of 3.56. It will go with Dan Straily as its starter in this series opener. The right-hander squared off against Wilson in last Saturday’s game. And while he did not match the lefty’s numbers he did hold the Angels to two runs on eight hits in seven innings of work. Overall, Straily is 6-3 on the year with a 4.14 ERA. He is 1-1 against Los Angeles with a 6.26 ERA.

Angels at Athletics MLB Betting Odds and Trends

BetOnline has opened the Angels as +105 road underdogs for Thursday night’s series opener with Oakland listed as a -115 home favorite. The total has been set at 7.5.
The Angels are 1-4 in Game 1 of their last five series and 1-4 in their last five games on the road. The total has stayed under in five of the last seven series openers.

The Athletics are 4-0 in Straily’s last four starts at home and 16-5 in Game 1 of their last 21 series. The total has stayed under in 19 of their last 26 home games.

Head-to-head in this AL West matchup, the home team is 4-2 in the last six meetings, and the total has stayed under in the last three. Oakland holds a 6-3 edge in this season’s series overall and is 2-1 at home.

Angels at Athletics Picks and Betting Predictions

Last Saturday these two starters faced one another, and it turned into a pitching duel that lasted seven innings. The way both these teams have been struggling at the plate lately, it should be more of the same on Thursday night. If I was playing a side, I would lean towards Oakland as a slight home favorite, but the top play in this one is under on the total line.

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