Toronto Blue Jays vs. Oakland Athletics: Odds, Prediction
A seven-game West Coast trip for the Blue Jays begins Monday on the American Independence Day holiday as they visit the rebuilding Oakland A’s. Toronto opened as a -225 favourite to win on the MLB odds behind Alek Manoah for the opener.
Betting Analysis
The July 4 American holiday is one of the marquee MLB days of the season and thus a very busy slate despite Mondays usually being rather quiet.
Toronto will be favoured in every game of this Oakland series – and there probably won’t be even 10,000 fans at any of them – because the A’s have the least-talented, anonymous roster in Major League Baseball. The team is flat-out tanking this season (plus eyeing a move to Las Vegas) and most likely will finish with the worst record in the sport.
Arguably the most talented player still on the roster is starting pitcher Frankie Montas and he will not be in Oakland after this year’s Trade Deadline. Montas won’t pitch in this series because he did Sunday in Seattle – although he did leave with shoulder tightness so that could hurt his trade value. The overall rotation isn’t that bad, but the offence is atrocious.
Oakland visited Toronto from April 15-17 and lost two of three – the one A’s win was courtesy of a two-run ninth inning to break a 5-5 tie on April 16. Oakland second baseman Tony Kemp was 3-for-8 in the series and catcher Sean Murphy 4-for-11 with a double and homer. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was 6-for-10 for the Jays with two RBIs. Former A’s third baseman Matt Chapman was 3-for-10 with a homer. Chapman spent 2017-21 with Oakland, so it should be a bit of an emotional homecoming for him.
Toronto is 13-3 in the past 16 meetings overall.
Toronto Blue Jays
Toronto’s homestand ended with a thud: Three straight losses to Tampa Bay. Before Sunday’s game, the team activated reliever Trevor Richards from the injured list and sent Thomas Hatch to Triple-A Buffalo. Richards allowed no runs over 1.1 innings Sunday. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stayed hot, going 3-for-5 with two RBIs. It was his 19th multi-hit game of the season and he has seven RBIs in the past four games.
Right-hander and Cy Young contender Manoah (9-2, 2.09 ERA) is on the bump Monday. He allowed two earned over seven last Wednesday in a no-decision vs. Boston. Manoah has allowed eight earned runs in 11 career innings vs. Oakland but gave up only two vs. the A’s over six on April 17. Kemp is 3-for-5 off Manoah with a homer. Toronto is 6-2 in its past eight series openers.
Oakland Athletics
Oakland has one of the better-named players in MLB in outfielder Skye Bolt. The 28-year-old got his first big-league hit in Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the Mariners. Believe it or not, the A’s have lost the first game of 12 consecutive series’, one shy of the longest such streak in team history. They are 4-21 overall in series openers this year.
Lefty Cole Irvin (2-6, 3.58) is on the mound Monday. He is 0-5 with a 3.69 ERA over his last nine starts, all A’s losses. Irvin is the third pitcher in Oakland history to appear in nine consecutive team losses, with all nine appearances being starts. Irvin is 1-1 with a 1.57 ERA in six starts at home compared to 1-5 with a 5.27 ERA in seven starts on the road. He is 1-1 with a 6.97 ERA in two career starts against Toronto, both last year. Alejandro Kirk is 2-for-2 with a homer off him. Guerrero is 1-for-5 with two Ks. The A’s are 1-11 in their past 12 vs. AL East teams.
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