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The American League Wild Card race seemed to be settling down around the trade deadline, but in the weeks since it has turned in to pure chaos. Bad runs from the Mariners, Twins and Royals have opened the race back up and there are currently eight teams with 3.5 games of that Wild Card spot. One good week and any one of them could get in that second spot. The Yankees seem to have the first spot locked up, but after that who knows.
A great example is the Angels who are the current second Wild Card team. They are 61-58 on a six game winning streak. For the math inclined out there, that means that they were three games under .500 before this streak started and were one of the teams that we were counting out. The Twins traded away Jaime Garcia because they thought they were out of it, but an 8-2 run has them just 0.5 games back. Even the Orioles who have some of the worst starters in all of baseball are suddenly in there as they have gone 6-4 to get within one game of .500 and two games of the Wild Card.
It’s a crazy race, but not necessarily a good one as every team is struggling to separate themselves from the pack. My personal pick, the Mariners, had it locked up last week at this time, but injuries to key players has finally caught up with them and they’ve dropped five straight. They should be getting James Paxton and Felix Hernandez in time for the stretch run, but it may be too late if they don’t start winning soon.
MLB Betting Tips:
The Rays are another team that has really struggled lately to create this race. Just 2-8 over their past ten, they face the hot Blue Jays tonight in Toronto. They send Blake Snell to the mound who has had a rough year, getting sent down at one point. The Jays kill lefties and if he isn’t fixed, this could be a bad one. Marco Estrada goes for Toronto and he isn’t my favorite pitcher on the board tonight, but I do trust him here. Blue Jays -121.
Mike Trout and the Angels head to Washington tonight to face the Nationals. Bryce Harper is out with an injury so the must-watch nature of this one is diminished a bit. Instead, let’s check out the pitching match-ups which have Tyler Skaggs and Gio Gonzalez on the mound. Two lefties. If you look at the team hitting stats, the Nationals are 4th in OPS vs lefties while the Angels are 29th. I trust Gio a bit more than Skaggs and I think the winning streak comes to an end tonight. Nationals -116.
With Wade Miley on the mound I would normally bet on the Mariners to get back on track here tonight against the Orioles. The only thing, they are starting 31-year old Andrew Albers. He’s making his start ML start of the year and only his 18th appearance overall. That’s… not a good sign. This game screams over 9.5 runs as both teams should put runs up tonight.
