This matchup features one of the worst teams in the American League against a team that has seen their playoff hopes start to fade as the Oakland Athletics travel to take on the Texas Rangers in game three of a three-game series on Sunday in which the teams have split the first two games with the Rangers winning game two of the series on Saturday by a score of 2-3. Which team will come away with the series win by winning game three on Sunday afternoon? Let’s take a deeper dive into how these teams are performing this season.

The Oakland Athletics enter this game with a record of 44-98 which gives them the 2^nd worst record in the American League and puts them 35 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the final Wild Card spot in the American League. Oakland has compiled a record of 5-3 in September and saw their two-game winning streak come to an end on Saturday when they lost to the Texas Rangers on the road in game two of the series by a score of 2-3. Both runs for the Athletics came in the 7^th inning when Zack Gelof hit a two-run home run that also scored Seth Brown.

Texas enters this game with a record of 77-64 which puts them in 3^rd place in the AL West 3 games behind the Houston Astros for 1^st place in the AL West and 1.5 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the final Wild Card spot in the American League. The Rangers have compiled a record of 2-6 in September and finally ended their four-game losing streak with Saturday’s 3-2 win at home against the Oakland Athletics in game two of the series. Two of the three runs for the Rangers came in the 6^th inning which included Robbie Grossman scoring off a base hit from Nate Lowe.

BookMaker has the Texas Rangers listed as -230 money line favorites at home against the Oakland Athletics on Sunday for game three of the series. Texas has won seven of the last ten games while Oakland has won two of the last three games in the series. The Rangers have won by an average margin of 2.1 runs per game over the last ten games in the series while the Athletics have won by an average margin of 1.33 runs per game over the last three matchups.

The Rangers have the advantage at pitcher for game three of the series as Texas will send Jon Gray to the mound while Oakland will send Kyle Muller to the mound on Sunday. Gray is 8-7 this season with a 3.85 ERA while recording 128 strikeouts while Muller is 1-5 on the year with an ERA of 7.62 and has recorded 52 strikeouts.

Kyler Muller is 0-1 with two no-decisions in his last three starts this season while allowing a total of ten runs and recording 12 strikeouts in those contests with his last start coming at home against the Los Angeles Angels in which Muller allowed three runs and struck out three batters in a no-decision.

In his last three starts this season, Jon Gray is 0-1 with two no-decisions while allowing a total of 11 runs and recording 22 strikeouts in those games with his last start coming at home against the Minnesota Twins in which Gray allowed three runs and struck out eight in a no-decision.

Texas has been the better team this season, however, Oakland has been the better team most recently in the series, winning two of the last three games by an average margin of 1.33 runs per game. As a result, I am taking the run line for the Oakland Athletics at +1.5 on BookMaker for this matchup on Sunday.