Oddly enough, the Oakland Athletics are just 4.5 games outside of the top spot in the American League West standings. On Monday, they'll open a series with the Tampa Bay Rays at home. The game is scheduled for a 10:05 p.m. EST start time and it will be televised live on MLB.tv in addition to local markets. Currently the odds for the game have the Rays favored as a road favorite in this game.
Free Preview: The Rays are an interesting team. They've had a decent season to date and are 8.5 games outside of first place in the American League East. Yet, they're only two games outside of the top spot in the Wild Card standings as well. A lot of people thought the Rays might be sellers at the deadline, but they are going to get Evan Longoria back sometime soon as well. They could be a major player in the American League post season scene. David Price will be on the hill this evening, looking for a Major League first 15th win of the season. The A's have a pretty exciting game tonight as well. If they are able to beat the Rays tonight, they'll be able to clinch the best July in franchise history. Tampa Bay has given up just 18 runs over its last 10 games and beat the Angels in back to back games over the weekend. Both of their last two wins were via the shutout. The Rays have never gone three straight games without allowing a run. Price (14-4, 2.57 ERA) won his sixth consecutive decision on Wednesday with 10 strikeouts over Baltimore. Oakland is sitting in first place for the Wild Card standings, so tonight's game is huge for them as well. Price is 7-0 with a 1.61 ERA in his last nine starts against American League teams. Price beat the A's back in May, but the team was struggling offensively, averaging just over 3 runs per game. Now, they're a different squad that is putting up a major-league high 6.07 since the All-Star break. Oakland is 18-4 this month overall, to climb from nine games under the .500 mark to now being nine games over the .500 mark. Oakland starter A.J. Griffin (3-0, 2.25) has gone at least six innings in all six of his major league outings, and he'll look to continue that tonight.
Free Pick: We really like the Rays, even on the road, with Price on the mound. Aside from Madison Bumgarner in San Fransisco, we really enjoy backing Price. The Rays started out when this line was posted as an underdog, but they have been bought up to being a decent sized favorite at -130. They've gained a lot of momentum on the betting line in the last 12 hours or so, and they could be an even heavier favorite once the game finally starts. Oakland can't continue to win 80 percent of their games, can they? Maybe they can. I guess we'll see, but overall we like Tampa Bay here tonight.
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Betting Strategies: Handicapping Theories
Host Marco D'Angelo and Pregame Pro Dave Essler discuss there handicapping theories and what they look at when they are handicapping games.