MLB Picks 4/9 – Oakland As @ Tampa Bay Raysv

by Thomas Quaynor – MLB analyst for Wannamakeabet.com

The Oakland A’s (2-6) conclude a 3-game series at the undefeated Tampa Bay Rays (8-0) this afternoon. Tampa Bay won the first two games of the series, 9-5 and 11-0, and are the first MLB team to open the season 8-0 since the 2003 Kansas City Royals (who finished 83-79). The starting pitchers are James Kaprielian for Oakland and Drew Rasmussen for Tampa Bay.

Moneyline: Oakland +225, Tampa Bay -275

Run Line: Oakland +1.5 (+108), Tampa Bay -1.5 (-130)

Run Total: over 7.5 (even)  under 7.5 (-122)

The Oakland A’s finished last season 60-102, their most losses since 1979 and their most significant offseason move may have been trading away their best hitter in catcher Sean Murphy (.250, 18 HR, 66 RBI in 2022) to Atlanta in December. So, things may go from worse to a lot worse this season for Oakland as they’ve begun the season 2-6 and have been outscored by 34 runs (27-61) in those eight games. Last season’s home run leader Seth Brown returns, along with the newly acquired infielders Jace Peterson from Milwaukee and Aledmys Diaz from the World Series champion Houston Astros

The Tampa Bay Rays are off to a historic start as they’ve scored the most runs (64) and given up the fewest runs (18) in baseball through 8 games. Tampa is the first team to win its first eight games by 4+ runs since 1884. They’ve hit a major-league leading 18 homers on the season and eight players have at least 2 home runs. Leading the offensive surge for Tampa is 22-year-old shortstop Wander Franco (.364, 3 HR 8 RBI) and left-fielder Randy Arozarena (.367 2 HR 10 RBI). Starting pitchers Shane McLanahan (2-0, 0.00 ERA) and Jeffrey Springs anchor the staff. Tampa has yet to play any division games against the ultra-competitive AL East, we’ll see whether the dominance continues when they face the Yankees and Blue Jays.

Take Tampa on the run line or the money line, I expect another easy win for them this afternoon against Oakland!