As getaway day in the Majors begins, the Athletics will look to split their four-game set with the Royals at Kauffman Stadium on Thursday afternoon. Oakland has just a 2.5 game lead on the Angels in the West while the Royals have taken over first in the Central. They are now a half-game ahead of the Tigers in the standings. This has been a fun series to watch so far and the finale should be just as fun with James Shields and Jeff Samardzija taking the mound. We like Oakland to split the series today.
Oakland has built leads and seen them come close to disappearing in the AL West, but they always seem to recover just in the knick of time. With their two losses in this series, coupled with the Angels two-game sweep of the Phillies, their lead in the West is down to 2.5 games. They will ask Samardzija to secure the victory, which would be his fourth since joining the club in a trade with the Cubs.
Kansas City utterly overpowered the Tigers in their quest to regain the top spot in the AL Central. They went on an incredible tear to get where they are now and do not want to let go of first place. They are 9-1 in their last 10 games, including two wins in the first three games of this series. James Shields will take the mound for Kansas City this afternoon. He is 11-6 with an ERA of 3.25, but in his last seven starts he has an ERA of just 1.65, so today should be very fun.
Our bet will be placed at BetOnline.ag on Thursday when the Royals and Athletics collide for their four-game series finale. We will bet 15 percent of our bankroll on Oakland and the OVER seven total runs scored at -115 as they split the series and stand firm in the AL West.
