Baseball betting action on Saturday includes a matchup on Fox television as the Oakland Athletics host the Texas Rangers in the second game of a three-game series. Rich Harden gets the start for the Rangers while Gio Gonzalez goes for the A’s. The Rangers should be a slight favorite in MLB betting odds.
Baseball betting odds favor the first place Rangers in many of their games. They have a very nice lead in the American League West and now they have Harden back in the starting rotation. He came off the DL in his last start and beat the Angels 3-1. He went seven innings and gave up just one run. The last time he pitched against the A’s he went seven shutout innings in a 4-2 win.
Gonzalez is quietly having a nice season for Oakland. He is 9-7 on the season with a 3.69 ERA. He struck out 11 in his last start against the White Sox but Oakland still lost 4-1. He is 3-2 in his last eight starts with a 2.84 ERA. In his career against the Rangers he is 1-1 with a 2.29 ERA.
The Rangers have struggled a little bit against the A’s in MLB betting. Before yesterday’s game they had lost 12 of the last 20 against Oakland. The Rangers did take two of three in Texas last week with two of those games going under the total.
Texas has been just about a .500 team on the road this season. The Rangers have a good enough offense to put runs on the board on the road and their pitching staff is capable of getting road victories. The Rangers are in first place for a reason as they rank in the top ten in both runs scored and in ERA.
Oakland is basically a .500 team that really outperforms their talent. The A’s don’t have a team that is going to make the playoffs but they are capable of winning games due to a solid pitching staff that is sixth in the league. The A’s offense doesn’t score enough runs on a consistent basis as they are in the bottom third of the league in runs scored. Oakland has been better at home than on the road so they are capable of winning this game against the Rangers on Saturday.