The Los Angeles Angels struggled in August as the Angels compiled a record of 8-19 and have fallen completely out of the Wild Card picture as Los Angeles has a record of 64-71 and is 11.5 games back of the Texas Rangers for the final Wild Card spot in the American League and are 12.5 games back of the Seattle Mariners for 1^st place in the AL West. 

The Angels have lost four of their last five games which includes a 2-9 loss on the road against the Oakland Athletics in game one of the series on Friday. Logan O’Hoppe accounted for one of the runs when he hit a one-run home run in the 9^th inning in the last against the Athletics.

Oakland has been the worst team in the MLB this season with a winning percentage of .296 and is 35.5 games back of the Texas Rangers for the final Wild Card Spot in the American League with an overall record of 40-95 and even though the Athletics entered the season with one of the lowest over/under win totals of 59.5 wins, Oakland is still unlikely to meet those expectations. The Athletics have lost three of their last five games, however, they are coming off a 9-2 win at home in game one of the series against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday. Esteury Ruiz hit a two-run home run in the 8^th inning which also scored Nick Allen accounting for two of the nine runs scored by Oakland in the win.

BookMaker has the Los Angeles Angels listed as -130 money line favorites on the road against the Oakland Athletics in game two of the series on Saturday. The teams have split the last ten games in the series while Los Angeles has won two of the last three games by an average margin of .67 runs per game while having outscored the Athletics by an average of 5.9 to 4.1 runs per game in the last ten games in the series.

Los Angeles has the advantage at pitcher on Saturday as the Angels will send Griffin Canning to the mound while the Athletics will send Paul Blackburn to the mound for game two of the series. Canning is 7-4 this season with a 4.38 ERA while recording 110 strikeouts while Blackburn is 3-4 on the year with an ERA of 3.93 and has recorded 86 strikeouts.

Griffin Canning is 1-0 with two no-decisions in his last three starts against the Athletics while allowing a total of eight runs and striking out 12 in those matchups with the last start coming earlier this season which resulted in a win with Canning allowing three runs and striking out seven against the Athletics.

In his last three starts against the Angels, Paul Blackburn is 1-0 with two no-decisions while allowing a total of seven runs and recording 11 strikeouts. Blackburn’s last start against Los Angeles came last season in which he allowed four runs and struck out three in a win.

Los Angeles has been the better team this season and has the better pitcher on the mound for game two of the series. The Angels have won two of the last three games in the series while winning by an average margin of .67 runs per game in those contests which is why I am taking the money line for the Los Angeles Angels at -130 on BookMaker for game two of the series on Saturday afternoon.