New York Yankees vs Oakland Athletics Predictions & Picks

New York Yankees vs Oakland Athletics Predictions & Picks

New York Yankees vs Oakland Athletics Probable Pitchers

• Yankees: Jameson Taillon (8-4, 3.94 ERA)
• Athletics: James Kaprielian (7-4, 3.25 ERA)

View odds for the Yankees vs Athletics here.

New York Yankees vs Oakland Athletics Predictions

The Yankees currently have 74 wins and are on an 11-game winning streak. This winning streak hasn’t put them atop of the AL East but they are leading the AL Wild Card, ahead of the Oakland Athletics.

The Yankees are 74-52 while the A’s are 70-57. If the Yankees want to pull away from the A’s in the AL Wild Card for the first spot, this will be the series to do just that.

James Kaprielian will take the mound for the A’s and he’s been solid in his rookie season. He’s 7-4 with a 3.25 ERA for the A’s and gets to pitch in a pitcher’s ballpark most of the time.

He’s had three starts in August and has allowed six earned runs off 14 hits in 16.1 innings. However, Kaprielian has struck out just eight batters in his last 16.1 innings and that’s something to really keep an eye on as he pitches deeper into the season.

He also faced the Rangers twice in August, so take that for what it’s worth as well.

In the last 30 days, Kaprielian has an xFIP of 6.07. He’s striking out 15.9 percent of batters and walking eight percent. On top of that, he’s induced just 31.8 percent ground balls and is giving up 22.7 percent line drive contact.

To lefties, Kaprielian has allowed a .354 wOBA and then to righties, he’s given up a .200 ISO. Walks are higher and strikeouts are lower to lefties but he’s giving up way more line drive contact to righties. With the additions of Anthony Rizzo, Joey Gallo, Rougned Odor, and Andrew Velazquez, the Yankees are actually balanced in their lineup and that could be one reason for their surge offensively during the winning streak.

As a lineup, the Yankees are hitting an ISO of .211 with a wOBA of .317. Sure, the wOBA is low but the Yankees have shown off plenty of power against righties in the last 30 days.

The Yankees are no longer in Yankee Stadium, I get that, but extra base hits can still be gotten in Oakland. The Yankees lineup is hitting just 38.5 percent grounders and have hit line drives about 20 percent of the time.

The middle of the order between Rizzo, Aaron Judge, Gallo, Giancarlo Stanton, and Luke Voit can all do damage with power. Each one of those batters has a high ISO power number in the last 30 days against righties and having all five stacked up next to each other could be extremely helpful.

If one or two batters gets on and the next player hits a homer, the Yankees, by the snap of a finger, could take an early lead and have three runs on the board.

With that, I like the Yankees to find a way against Kaprielian. This is a motivated ball club that won’t take losing lightly anymore. They’re coming for a World Series and the organization made sure to let everyone know at the deadline.

There’s plenty of value on the Yankees to score three runs in the first five innings tonight. That’s what I’ll roll with.

New York Yankees vs Oakland Athletics Prediction: Yankees Over 2.5 F5 TT (+120) at DraftKings