Athletics vs. Yankees Odds, Preview, Prediction: Red-Hot Oakland Opens Series in New York (Friday, June 18)

The Oakland A's will have the benefit of an off-day and come into a three-game series with the Yankees red hot. The A’s have won six straight games and are 12-2 in June.

The Yankees are coming off a sweep of their own, winning three straight games against Toronto. While Oakland sits atop the American League West, the Yankees are in third place in the AL East and 6 1/2 games behind the first-place Tampa Bay Rays.

Oakland Athletics

The Athletics will start a former Yankees first-round pick in James Kaprielian on Friday night. After being drafted by New York in 2015, he was traded in the summer of 2017 as part of the package for Sonny Gray. Kaprielian made his MLB debut in 2020 in the form of two relief appearances.

After starting the 2021 season in Triple-A, Kaprielian was called up in May and made his first start and earned his first win on May 12 at Fenway Park. In six starts this season, he has a 3-1 record and a 2.51 ERA. Teams are batting just .188 against Kaprielian this season, and he has held opponents to two or fewer runs in five of his six starts. He throws mostly a fastball and throws a fantastic slider, allowing just a .080 batting average with a 37% strikeout rate.

The Oakland offense has been absolutely on fire lately. Since the start of June, they rank fourth in the league in batting average, third in wOBA and third in wRC+

After slightly slow starts, the Athletics stars are back to mashing the ball now. Matt Chapman is batting .300 with a .371 wOBA in June, and Matt Olson is hitting .431 with a 1.286 OPS, .524 wOBA and 244 wRC+.

New York Yankees

The Yankees will start another first round pick in Jameson Taillon, but it has been a bit of a shaky season for the right-hander. He has looked solid at times, but is just 1-4 with a 5.74 ERA this season. He has allowed at least three runs in eight of his 12 starts.

In Taillon’s most recent start, he got pulled in the first inning after allowing four runs to Philadelphia. He throws his fastball over 52.6% of the time, and that is his main strikeout pitch, with a 35.7% K%. He also throws a slider that has been very good, as well as a curveball, which has been very bad.

The Yankees offense has been incredibly frustrating this year. They will occasionally show signs of breaking out, but then go cold again. New York ranks just 25th in runs per game this season. They sit 17th in batting average, 14th in wOBA and 15th in wRC+.

The Yankees sluggers have taken turns getting scorching hot this season. First, it was Giancarlo Stanton, then Aaron Judge, and now it’s Gary Sanchez. Over the last two weeks, Sanchez is batting .308 with a .1008 OPS. He has four home runs in the last seven games.

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Athletics-Yankees Pick

I’ll be honest, I think this line is very confusing.

Oakland is one of the hottest teams in the league. The A's have the second best record in the American League and have been on fire during the month of the June. Taillon throws his fastball more than 50% of the time and they lineup all hit fastballs very well.

Matt Olson has been mashing the ball lately, and that short porch in right field could see some action with the way he has been hitting it. In six games at Yankees stadium in his career, he has eight hits, three doubles and two home runs. He is batting .333 with a 1.157 OPS in the Bronx.

The Yankees tend to be overvalued in the market a lot, given their popularity and brand recognition, and I think that is happening again here for the A’s to have this big of a number.

Oakland had a day off yesterday and is 8-1 this season after a day of rest. I will back the A's in this spot at +125 and would play them down to +110.

Pick: Athletics +125 (play to +110)