Even though he threw a perfect game in his last start, Oakland A’s pitcher Dallas Braden could be the baseball gambling underdog as the A’s face the Angels in Anaheim on Friday. Rarely are the Angels an underdog at home in MLB gambling and they will likely be favored against Braden and the Athletics in this matchup.
Baseball gambling odds don’t normally have a pitcher coming off a perfect game as an underdog in his next start but the A’s are not considered a strong team and Braden is not a top starter. He pitched the 19th perfect game in Major League Baseball history on Sunday as he dominated Tampa Bay but Braden has only made 53 starts in his career and he still has a losing overall record. He threw 109 pitches in the MLB gambling win over Tampa Bay. It should also be noted that he was coming off two straight losses in which he gave up nine runs in 11 innings. Braden was great against Tampa Bay though and the Rays are not an easy team to stop as they have been one of the best teams in the league this season with a very good hitting lineup. “It was a great day, Dallas was phenomenal,” A’s general manager Billy Beane said. “Really, the thing about it is if you’re going to pitch a perfect game, that’s a team over there that you wouldn’t want to choose to try and do it against. They have great plate discipline, speed, everything. So it makes it even more special and quite an accomplishment.” Braden is now 4-2 on the season with an ERA of 3.33.
Braden defeated the Angels last month as he went six innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits with one walk and two strikeouts. The Angels have won 12 of the last 20 in this series against Oakland but they did lose two of the three at home including the loss to Braden. Two of those three games went under the baseball gambling odds. For some reason the road team has done very well when these two teams meet. Oakland has won six of the last ten games at Anaheim. They will definitely have a chance on Friday against the Angels but only if Braden can avoid the letdown that could easily occur after pitching a perfect game.