Seattle Mariners vs Oakland A’s MLB Betting Preview— 8/30/18

Thursday evening on the MLB diamond and a pair of teams from the American League West will square off as the Seattle Mariners battle it out with the Oakland A’s at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California. This is game one of a four-game set and has a start time of 10:05 PM ET.

Lines: Seattle +105… Oakland -115… Over/Under 8.5

Pitching Matchup

Getting the nod for the Mariners will be Wade Leblanc and he has gone 7-3 with a 3.92 ERA in 26 games (21 starts) on the year, including 1-1 with a 3.88 ERA in 13 games (10 starts) on the road. In his career, he has gone 14-20 with a 5.05 ERA in 102 games (49 starts) on the road and 9-10 with a 5.34 ERA in 39 games (27 starts) during the month of August, while against the A’s he has gone 2-0 with a 4.21 ERA in six games (four starts), including 2-0 with a 3.57 ERA in three games (two starts) here at the Coliseum.

Frankie Montas will toe the rubber for the A’s and he has gone 5-3 with a 3.75 ERA in 10 starts on the year, including 2-2 with a 4.01 ERA in four starts here at home. In his career, he has gone 5-5 with a 4.31 ERA in 12 games as a starter and 3-3 with a 5.18 ERA in 16 games (four starts) here at the Coliseum. This will be his first start against the Mariners. He has faced them three times out of the pen and has allowed two ERs on two hits and a walk in 4.1 innings of work in those games. He also has seven strikeouts in those games.

Game Analysis

The Mariners may be running out of gas. They had a shot of picking up a couple of wins as they were facing the lowly Padres on the road. Well, that didn’t happen as they were swept in the two-game series. In game one, they lost by a score of 2-1 and they were blasted in game two by a score of 8-3. The Mariners are now 8.0 games out of first in the division and 5.5 games behind the A’s for the 2nd wildcard slot. If the Mariners struggle in this series, then it could be over for them as far as getting in the postseason goes. At the very least, they have to hope for a split of the four games. Seattle is now just 5-9 over their last 14 games and they have averaged just 3.23 rpg in their last 13 games. They now take on an Oakland that has been pitching well of late. In the loss to the Padres, they did have nine hits and drew four walks, but were able to score just three runs, while striking out 11 times. Erasmo Ramirez had a horrible outing as he allowed seven ERs on nine hits and a walk in just 3.0 innings of work. He is now 1-3 with a 6.28 ERA on the year. The Mariners are 36-31 on the road and they have averaged 4/56 rpg and have allowed 4.70 rpg in those games.

After taking game two of their series with the Astros, the A’s gave it right back with a 5-4 loss in the finale. They are now 2.5 games back of the Astros for first place in the American League West. They now have another series that they must do well on or the race for the 2nd wildcard slot in the American League will tighten up. If they do well in this series, then it could be a knockout blow to the Mariners. The A’s are 18-9 in their last 27 games and have lost two in a row just once over that stretch. They are looking to avoid a two-game losing streak in this one. Their pitching has been very solid over last as they have allowed just 51 runs over their last 15 games, with 20 of those runs coming in two games. The A’s did lose a tough one in the finale against the Astros as Houston won it in the bottom of the 9th. Stephen Piscotty led their attack on offense with a hit and three RBIs. Trevor Cahill had a rough start as he allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits and six walks while striking out just two in 3.1 innings of work. He got a no-decision while Jeurys Familia took the loss and is now 8-5 with a 2.87 ERA on the year. Oakland has gone 39-26 here at home and they have averaged 3.98 rpg and have allowed 3.69 rpg in those games.  

Trends

Seattle Is:

10-1 in LeBlancs last 11 starts with 4 days of rest

8-3 in their last 11 road games vs. a team with a winning home record

2-5 in LeBlancs last 7 road starts vs. a team with a winning record

Oakland Is:

10-2 in their last 12 home games vs. a left-handed starter

46-18 in their last 64 games on grass

8-20 their last 28 home games in this series