Las Vegas A's

Can the A’s sweep their series over the division leading Astros?

by
Tony Reyes
September 12, 2024

What: MLB Regular Season Game
When: Thursday, September 12th
Who: Oakland Athletics vs. Houston Astros
Time: 2:10 p.m. ET
Where: Minute Maid Park (Houston, TX)

The Oakland Athletics and Houston Astros complete their three-game series on Thursday afternoon at Minute Maid Park.

Oakland Athletics

The Oakland Athletics have a record of 64-82 this season, with 3 wins in their last 5 games. In this series, they have secured victories in the first 2 games with scores of 4-3 and 5-4.

The Oakland pitching staff maintains a 4.31 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP, holding opponents to a .250 batting average.

Series finale. pic.twitter.com/x79xT3w89q

— Oakland A's (@Athletics) September 12, 2024

On the offensive side, the Athletics scored 593 runs with a .234 batting average and a .303 on-base percentage.

Notably, Brent Rooker has been a standout player with an impressive .299 batting average and 35 home runs, a performance that has undoubtedly made the Athletics’ fans proud and excited.

Houston Astros

The Astros enter Thursday surprisingly at risk of getting swept by the A’s. They just received some bad news: star second baseman Jose Altuve was injured on Wednesday. Altuve is not in the lineup for Thursday’s series finale.

The Houston Astros are currently on a 3-game losing streak. They lost the first 2 games of this series by just 1 run.

Before that, the Astros won 2 out of 3 games against the Diamondbacks, lost all 3 games against the Reds, and swept the Royals in a four-game series.

La Grasa for game 3.

⚾️: 1:10pm
????️: Closed
????: @SpaceCityHN
????️: @SportsTalk790 | Spanish: 93.3 FM#Relentless x @reliantenergy pic.twitter.com/DmnJo97Y26

— Houston Astros (@astros) September 12, 2024

They have a 2-6 record in their last 8 games. Despite this, they still hold the top spot in the AL West.

The Astros’ pitching staff has a 3.73 ERA, a 1.25 WHIP, and a .229 opponent batting average. On the offensive side, they have scored 668 runs with a .261 batting average and a .320 on-base percentage.

Yordan Alvarez has been particularly impressive for the Astros this season, batting .313 with 32 home runs and 80 RBIs.

Astros-A’s Best Bet

This series and this A’s team generally have been very difficult to figure out. They continue to overachieve and win games as the underdog.

The Astros are one of the best teams in baseball and are somehow in danger of being swept by this A’s team.

I’m not going to take a side in this game because I can’t figure out why each team is performing the way it is. I think the best bet will be to target the total.

The total has gone over in 4 of the last 5 games for the A’s and 3 of the previous 5 for the Astros. These teams are due for some regression. I’m betting under 8 runs in this division matchup.