The Oakland Athletics haven’t made the postseason in three years, but they’re coming off a 75-win season, the most since 2014. The A’s have one of the better offenses in baseball and should be able to improve on last years numbers with the additions of Stephen Piscotty and Jonathan Lucroy. Khris Davis is one of the better power hitters in the game and Matt Olson had 24 homers in just 59 games, giving Oakland even more pop throughout the order. The question for the Athletics is the pitching staff, as there’s no real ace on this staff and three of the projected starters are 26 years old or younger. The Oakland Athletics are a young, exciting team that could turn heads or be a year away, but we’ll find out soon. Kendall Graveman gets the ball, and he was 6-4 with a 4.19 ERA and 70 strikeouts last season. Graveman is 2-2 with a 3.96 ERA and 45 strikeouts in his career against the Angels.

The Angels are 4-10 in their last 14 during game 1 of a series, 3-8 in their last 11 road games and 0-4 in Richards’ last 4 starts. The Athletics are 9-2 in their last 11 home games, 20-43 in their last 63 during game 1 of a series and 5-1 in Gravemans last 6 home starts. The Angels are 5-1 in the last 6 meetings and the over is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings.

The Oakland Athletics are my dark horse this season, as this young team has real potential. I even locked in a futures bet for the A’s to make the playoffs at +700. The offense is there, if the pitching staff can simply be average and keep them in games, the Athletics are going to be a handful to deal with. The As finished last season very strong, were solid at home all year and are saying the right things heading into the season. This will be a team to watch.

I’ll take Oakland and the plus money at home.