MLB Betting Picks – New York Yankees at Oakland A’s

The Oakland A’s are fighting for a playoff spot, and if they make it they won’t have to worry about playing the New York Yankees. The A’s are a game back of Tampa Bay for the second wild card and they could have made things interesting in the AL West, but they were denied a sweep of the Astros on Sunday.

The Yankees upended Oakland in last year’s wild card game, but with a double-digit lead in the AL East and the best record in MLB, they’ll likely wait for the winner. The Bombers kick off a nine-game road trip with the first of three games against the A’s on Tuesday night. The game will air live on ESPN with betting options for every game on the Tuesday MLB schedule available at BookMaker.eu.

New York Yankees at Oakland A’s

Date and Time: Tuesday, August 20, 2019, 10:07 p.m. ET

Location: Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA

Probable Pitchers: Domingo German vs. Homer Bailey

Opening MLB Odds: New York -135, Oakland +122, O/U 9.5

Yankees at A’s TV Coverage: ESPN

Odds Analysis

The Yankees bring MLB’s top offense, winningest pitcher and best record into their series opener while aiming to continue their torrid pace. They split a four-game set with Cleveland over the weekend and have won seven of their last nine games. New York is averaging nearly six runs per game, they’ve hit the second-most home runs and have the third-best team batting average. It’s resulted in some strong numbers on the total. The Yanks have cashed the over in two straight games and seven of their last eight. The over is 40-15-2 in their road games.

The A’s aren’t great in any statistical category, they’re just good and that’s led them to within a game of Tampa in the wild card. Oakland won the first three games against Houston this past weekend, closing the gap to 6.5-games. They couldn’t finish the deal and had their four-game win streak stopped by the Astros, 4-1, on Sunday. The teams are meeting for the first time since the Yankees defeated Oakland 7-2 in last year’s wild card game. They’ll hook up for a three-game set in New York in 10 days.

Probable Pitchers

Domingo German ( 16-2, 3.96 ERA ) has won his last four starts and seven decisions to pace MLB in victories. He scattered five hits over 7.0 innings of two-run ball his last time out to beat the Orioles. This will be his first start against a team outside the AL East since July 23 when he surrendered eight earned in 3.2 innings to the Twins. He was taken off the hook in that one when his mates came back for a 14-12 win.

Over his last eight starts German has benefitted from the high-scoring offense. The Yanks scored a total of 67 runs in those starts and support their righty with nearly seven runs per game for the season. German has one start in two career appearances against the A’s and will be making his first start in Oakland.

Acquired by the A’s last month, Homer Bailey ( 10-8, 5.22 ERA ) will be making his seventh start in an Oakland uniform. He’s coming off his finest outing of the year tossing 7.0 innings of shutout ball with just two hits allowed and seven strikeouts in a win over the Giants last Wednesday. In six starts with Oakland Bailey is 3-2 with a 6.40 ERA yielding 35 hits in 32.1 innings.

Bailey’s had more downs than ups this season, though he comes up with a gem every so often. That outing across the Bay was one of four scoreless starts with each going at least 6.0 innings. Facing the Yankees as a member of the Royals on April 18, Bailey allowed one run and three hits over 6.0 innings in a 6-1 win.

Key Stat

No pitcher on the Yankees staff has benefitted more from the highest scoring offense than German. You don’t typically see a hurler with an ERA of close to 4.00 put together a record of 16-2, but that’s exactly what German has done. And he usually gets a decision when he takes the bump. Overall the Yankees are 18-3 in German’s 21 starts and they’ve scored double figures five times. New York’s offense has been bolstered by a number of players, however D.J. LeMahieu has been on a roll going 11 for 26 with three homers and six RBIs in his last six games.

Bet Yankees at A’s at BookMaker.eu

The Yanks were subdued by Bailey back in April and I doubt he can twirl another gem against them. Besides, he had a shutout start last time and he hasn’t put consecutive good outings together. New York has been a money maker on the over and their prolific offense will get to Bailey this time. German is likely to give up a few runs along the way before the pen takes over and shuts the door. Give me the Yanks and the over in this one.

MLB Score Prediction: Yankees 7, Athletics 4

Access live betting lines from your mobile device at BookMaker sportsbook! Real-time spreads, totals, props and money line are all available so start betting with BookMaker today.

- Phil Simon, Gambling911.com Special Contributor (Article Courtesy of Bookmaker.eu)