The Astros came out of the all-star break with 5 straight wins. They've since played down to their competition and have been upset by the A's. It's time for them to show off the caliber of baseball they're capable of playing before heading back down to Houston. Even after winning the last 2 nights, the A's still have the worst record in the American League and are 28 games behind in the AL West. With the Yankees loss last night, the Astros still have a chance to pull within just a game of having the most wins in baseball by the end of this afternoon. Along with this sa me game parlay, be sure to check out our thoughts on the side and total for all of today's games.
Astros -1.5 (-118)
Yordan Alvarez 2+ total bases (-115)
Tony Kemp to record a hit (-130)
Parlay odds: +511
Let's take a closer look at each leg of our same game parlay.
Astros -1.5 (-118)
As this AL West matchup has been most of this season, it's a matchup of best versus worst. The Astros have the league's best pitching staff while the A's have the league's worst lineup. While the Yankees have the league's best record, an argument could be made that Houston is the best team in baseball. They opened up the 2nd half of the season by sweeping New York in a doubleheader and are now 5-2 against them. No other team seems to cause the Bronx Bombers problems quite like the rocket arms of the Astros. One of the arms that has helped take down the Yankees recently will also be on the mound for this game. Cristian Javier led Houston to 1 of those wins in the aforementioned doubleheader, and it wasn't the 1st time.
Javier has now helped the Astros beat the Yankees twice in his last 5 starts, largely due to his performances. Over 12.0 innings, he's allowed just a single run and 2 hits. His 1st start against them was a combined no-hitter, with him doing 7.0 innings of work. If he and the league's best bullpen can do that against the best lineup in baseball, they shouldn't have an issue with the worst. It certainly helps that they have some of the league's best hitters to support them. Jose Altuve may be 5'6″ but he hits like 6'7″ Aaron Judge, and just rested last night. Speaking of Judge, the only qualified hitter above him in OPS is Houston’s Yordan Alvarez. With Yuli Gurriel batting behind them with the 4th-most doubles in the American League, the Astros are simply the more complete team.'''