In 2012 the Oakland A’s surprised everyone by winning the AL West and last year the won 96 games on their way to their 2nd AL west title in a row. Getting 3 in a row will be hard as the Rangers, Mariners and Angels area all improved teams. Vegas odds have Oakland at +240 to win the AL West, +1200 to win the AL Pennant and +2000 to win the World Series.
The A’s are not usually known to be a high scoring team, but ast year they finished 4th in the league in runs scored (767), while also ranking 3rd in homers (186). This year’s offense has a chance to be very good as well as they have just about all the pieces back from last year’s squad. Coco Crisp is a very good leadoff man that has some power and gets on base allot, while Josh Donaldson hits for both average and power from the number 2 hole. Lowrie, Cespedes and Moss are all very solid power and RBI’s guys in the middle of the lineup, while getting back a healthy Josh Reddick will be a huge boost to the offense as well. This will not be a daily lineup though as the A’s have many interchangeable part and will platoon at many positions, but this will again be a top 10 offensive team.
The A’s pitching staff was ranked 7th in the league in ERA (3.56) and 4 th in the league in batting average against (.242). Bartolo Colon was a big part of that, but this year he is gone. The A;’s still have a corps of very good young pitchers and they added another young star in Scott Kazmir, who has the ability to be one of the better starters in the league. It has been announced that Sonny Gray will get the start in their opener. Gray went 5-3 with a 2.67 ERA last year. He will be followed by Kazmir and then by Jesse Chavez. Dan Straily had a nice year last year with a 10-8 record, while Tommy Millone went 12-9 and is expected to be the 5th starter. This is a very young staff, but one with a lot of promise. In the pen, the A’s lost Grant Balfour, but pick up Jim Johnson. This team also has a solid group of setup men, including Ryan Cook, Luke Gregerson and Sean Doolittle. Overall tis staff will be just as good as last year
Outlook: The A’s are pretty much a mirror image of last year’s team, as they offense will produce about the same amount, while the pitching should finish about where they did a year ago. Other than grabbing Johnson, the A’s had pretty much a quiet offseason, while the Rangers and Angles have been adding the pieces necessary to overtake this team in the AL West. Oakland will have another solid year, but they best they can hope for is a wildcard berth, because they won’t overtake the Angels or the Rangers in the West.
MLB $100,000 BIG SCORE CONTEST (1st place wins $20,000)
$10,000 Match Marco Baseball Challenge--- During the 2010 MLB season, Pregame Pro Marco D'Angelo won an unheard of 25 straight baseball games, never laying more than -$120! This contest replicates Marco's feat--- CLICK TO JOIN
Stay on top of the latest odds and line moves for CBB Season with our real-time odds from Las Vegas and offshore!
College Basketball Free Picks: Connecticut vs Florida Betting
What college Basketball bettors need to know about Connecticut Huskies vs Florida Gators in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday (4/05/14) - a free pick from Pregame.com's Marco D'Angelo, with Ken Thomson.