The Oakland Athletics and Houston Astros play Game 3 of their best-of-five AL Division Series Wednesday afternoon at 3:35 p.m. ET at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Houston will bat last as the home team. Below, we analyze the Athletics-Astros Game 3 MLB betting odds and lines, with picks and best bets.
Houston has taken Games 1 and 2 of the series, and that makes Wednesday’s matinee contest a potential elimination game.
Athletics vs. Astros: Projected starting pitchers
LHP Jesus Luzardo vs. RHP Jose Urquidy
Luzardo is a rookie-eligible port-sider who recorded a 4.12 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in 59 innings during the regular season. He yielded 3 ER on 6 hits (2 HR) in 3 1/3 IP against the Chicago White Sox in a Sept. 29 Wild Card Series start.
- Has held current Houston batters to a whiff-heavy .671 OPS (53 PA).
Urquidy logged a 2.73 ERA and 1.01 WHIP in five starts during the regular season. The 25-year-old right-hander has clocked a 3.44 ERA over 70 2/3 Major League innings in his career. Urquidy went 4 1/3 innings, allowing four base runners and a single run, in a Sept. 30 Wild Card Series start against the Minnesota Twins.
- Had his 2.73 regular-season ERA buoyed by a .209 BABIP and 86.6% left-on-base rate.
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Athletics vs. Astros: Key injuries
(Get the latest injury news here.)
Athletics
- 3B Matt Chapman (hip) out
Astros
- RP Roberto Osuna (elbow) out
- OF Yordan Alvarez (knee) out
Athletics vs. Astros: Odds, lines, picks and betting tips
MLB odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full list. Odds last updated at 10:15 a.m. ET.
Money line (ML)
The Astros (-106) have seemingly gotten back to their offensive capabilities after listing badly over the final two weeks of the regular season (.678 OPS). Houston’s 22 runs through four playoff games is A: A small sample, and B: A figure not wholly supported by peripheral numbers.
The Athletics (-106) were a decent fade candidate coming into the postseason, but Oakland is underrated by the level tag for Wednesday’s all-hands-on-deck contest. Luzardo is a solid starter, and lefty pitching brings out the lesser side of Houston’s platoon splits (.703 OPS in the regular season). The Astros’ .509 OPS against port-siders in September ranked dead-last in MLB. The A’s have a better bullpen, and it’s one better rested at the back end.
BACK THE ATHLETICS (-106).
New to sports betting? A winning $106 bet on the Athletics’ ML will net a $100 profit.
Run line/Against the spread (ATS)
PASS on what is a juice-drowned proposition on multi-run margins: Athletics -1.5 (+145)/Astros +1.5 (-176).
Over/Under (O/U)
There are mostly mixed signals underlying the analysis of this total — Over 9 (-110)/Under 9 (-110). A slight OVER lean would be the way to go, especially on a +100 price or a total of 8.5 instead of 9.
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