All 30 teams are on the schedule this Saturday across the MLB, starting off in Detroit at 1:10 PM ET and wrapping up in Arizona exactly 9 hours later with a matchup between the Diamondbacks and the Miami Marlins. For Saturday's Mega Parlay I have a little bit of everything – a favorite to win on the run line, an underdog to win outright, and an underdog to stay just within striking distance.'
Below I'll provide an in-depth analysis of each game and the value that lies within each pick.' For more action, be sure to check out our MLB predictions page which takes a look at some of the games not covered in this article. With that said, let's take a look at Saturday's MLB mega parlay which pays out at 9/1 odds on Fanduel Sportsbook.'
Houston Astros -1.5 over Oakland Athletics (+110)
It's crazy to think that we are over 50 games into the MLB season and the Oakland A's are 3 games back of the Houston Astros in the AL Wild Card standings. To Houstons' credit, they have played much better baseball of late and are 11-4 over their last 15 games. Yesterday, the Astros won 6-3 in game 1 over the A's and are now a perfect 5-0 against Oakland, outscoring them 28-7. Meanwhile, the A's have begun to cool off after starting the season on a much stronger note than most, including myself, expected from them. Oakland is just 2-10 across their last 12 games and their offense has gone missing. The A's have scored an average of 3.2 runs per game over their last 12 games while scoring more than 4 runs just 2 times.
Rookie right-hander Spencer Arrighetti takes the ball for the Astros this afternoon in his 8th start of the season. Arrighetti enters this start with a 7.16 ERA, 1.81 WHIP, and an opposing batting average of .313. The numbers don't look great on paper, but Arrighetti pitched well against this A's lineup less than 2 weeks ago after limiting them to just 2 runs over 5.0 innings of work. Arrighetti also could be in store for some positive regression as his 4.74 xERA is well below his actual ERA to this point. Countering for the A's is lefty JP Sears, who's 4.59 xERA is pretty close to that of Arrighetti. Sears pitched well against Houston on May 14, surrendering 1 runs across 5.0 innings, but his underlying metrics are concerning. Sears ranks in the 22nd percentile or worse in whiff rate, strikeout rate, barrel rate, and ground-ball rate. The Astros should do more damage the second time around, especially when their lineup is posting th e 3rd best wRC+ (117) in baseball.''