Houston Astros (5-1) vs Oakland Athletics (1-6)
Thursday, April 08, 2021 at 8:10 pm
*3 Star Play Over* The Oakland Athletics no longer have a dominant bullpen. Oakland starts Cole Irvin here, and I don't think he is a big league level starting pitcher. Irvin was hit hard by Houston in his first start and I think Houston has a lot of success again here.
Houston scored 8 runs or more in each of the four games in Oakland in their 4-0 sweep. All four of those games went over the total. This Astros lineup is better than they showed last year, and I think they'll be one of the best in baseball this year.
Javier is only a mediocre pitcher for the Astros. Oakland's lineup is at least league average. The Athletics have a brutal .224 batting average on balls in play so far this year. That is bound to positively regress toward the mean.
If they do leave the roof open here (probable) the wind is blowing out 11 mph at gametime. That is a nice bonus.
The over is 6-0 in the last 6 games between these two teams.
Take the over.