Blue Jays vs. A’s: Picks, predictions, how to watch Wednesday’s game

The Toronto Blue Jays and Oakland Athletics square off on Wednesday with first pitch set for 3:37 p.m. EST. The game takes place at RingCentral Coliseum in Oakland, California and will only be available on local TV or through an MLB.tv subscription. Jose Berrios will be on the mound for Toronto and the home team will send James Kaprielian to the bump.

The A’s are one of the worst teams in baseball, having yet to eclipse the 30-win mark on the season, winning just eight of their last 30 games. Still, for some reason, they’ve been playing well against Toronto. They’ve won the first two games of this series by a combined score of 10-4 and hold a season series lead of 3-2 over the Jays. Kaprielian hasn’t been great his season, with an ERA that’s ballooned up near the 5.50 mark and has just one win on the season. Though that win did come in his last start and he’s been pitching well recently, allowing just 16.2 innings pitched.

The Blue Jays are a much better team than Oakland is on paper, but right now they’re not finding any sort of success. Toronto comes into this game on a five-game skid and has won just seven of their last 20 games. Berrios has an ERA that’s even larger than his counterpart’s today, up at 5.72. He’s allowed 16 earned runs in his last 11.2 innings pitched and five or more earned runs in two of his last three starts.

Blue Jays vs. A’s

Pitchers: Jose Berrios vs. James Kaprielian
First pitch: 3:37 p.m. EST
Blue Jays local broadcast: SportsNet
A’s local broadcast: NBC Sports California
Live stream: MLB.tv (subscription)

Odds, picks & predictions

Run Line: Blue Jays -1.5
Run total: 8
Moneyline odds: Blue Jays -190, A’s +160

Moneyline pick: A’s +160

In any other situation, you’d probably want to pick against Oakland. But this one just feels like things are going their way. The Jays are struggling and have a pitcher on the bump who can’t seem to find any success recently. In contrast, the A’s are riding high after winning two straight and their hurler has had a tough year but has been much better in his recent starts.

Player prop pick: Stephen Piscotty, over 0.5 total bases (-120)

Piscotty has four hits in his last five appearances, which isn’t all that great, but it’s still trending in the right direction. He has also been solid batting against Berrios, notching three hits, including two singles and a double in six career at-bats against Berrios. He also has walked once against the Blue Jays pitcher.

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