My predictions record for the regular season finished at 16-6 with 3 straight correct picks to end the season. You can see my previous picks here. Now it’s time for postseason baseball and it starts with Tuesday night’s A’s-Royals AL Wild Card match-up. .
2014 AL Wild Card Game: Oakland A’s (88-74) @ Kansas City Royals (89-73)
On Tuesday night the Oakland Athletics and the Kansas City Royals face-off in the AL Wild Card match-up with the winner advancing to play in the ALDS series versus the Anaheim Angels. The A’s finished the regular season with an 88-74 record and in 2nd place in the AL West. They closed out the season losing 4 of their last 6 games. However, they were victorious in their regular season finale 4-0 at Texas on Sunday. On offense the team is led by 3rd baseman Josh Donaldson. Donaldson leads the team in batting average (.255), home runs (29), rbi’s (98), on base % (.342), slugging % (.456), and runs (93). The pitching staff is led by trade-acquired starter lefty Jon Leser. Lester has 16-11 record with a 2.46 era and 220 strikeouts in 219.2 innings pitched. Since coming over to Oakland (from Boston) he he has 6-4 record in 11 starts. He had a 3-game winning streak snapped in his last start on September 24th vs the Angels. In that start he went 7 innings while giving up earned runs on 8 hits. He’ll be the A’s starter on Tuesday. The Kansas City Royals finished the regular season with an 89-73 record and in 2nd place in the AL Central. They closed out the regular season winners in 6 of their last 9 games. In their regular season finale the Royals were victorious 6-4 at the White Sox. On offense the team is led by left-fielder Alex Gordon. Gordon leads the team in home runs (19), rbi’s (74), on base % (.351). slugging percentage (.432), and runs (87). The pitching staff is led right-handed James Shields has a 14-8 record with a 3.21 era and 180 strikeouts in 227 innings pitched. In his last start, September 25th at Chicago, he ended up with a no-decision as he pitched 6 innings while giving up 3 earned runs on 5 hits. In his last 6 starts he has a 2-1 record with 3 no-decisions. He’ll be the Royals starter on Tuesday.
The Royals were 5-2 versus the A’s during the regular season. However, the A’s outscored the Royals 26-14 in the 7 games. The A’s finished 40-41 on the road this season. The Royals finished 42-39 at home this season.
A’s vs Royals Prediction
If I were just basing it on the regular season series between the 2 teams I’d say the Royals are going to win this game, but when I factor in the postseason experience Jon Lester has I can see him shutting down the Royals and the A’s advancing to take on the Angels.
Take the A’s -105 (Bovada.lv)
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