Texas Rangers at Oakland Athletics 7/22/22 - MLB Picks & Predictions

The Texas Rangers reopen their second-half of the season with a trip to Oakland Coliseum to taek on the Oakland Athletics. Texas lost their last four games heading into the All-Star break, being swept at home by the Mariners to drop to 41-49 on the year. The A’s are currently last in the AL West at 32-61, and have been the worst team in the MLB on their home field going 11-31 in home games this season.

Oakland has arguably the worst offense in the MLB this season hitting just .211 as a team and scoring 3.29 runs per game, ranking last and second-to-last in the MLB. First baseman Seth Brown leads team in home runs (10) and RBIs (38), both of which are on pace to break his career-highs, but not near enough to lead the A’s to wins.

The left-handed Cole Irvin will get the start for the A’s, and despite a 4-7 record he’s been a solid starter posting a 3.21 ERA and 1.10 WHIP which are top-30 in the MLB in both. In Irvin’s last start against Houston, he allowed a run on three hits and struck out four in six innings of work as the A’s knocked off the Astros 5-1. It’s been the best year of Irvin’s career thus far, improving upon his 4.29 career ERA.

The Rangers have been much improved this season in large part thanks to their offense that is scoring 4.51 runs per game which ranks 11th in scoring offense. Shortstop Corey Seager has led the way, earning his way to the home run derby with 22 home run through the first half of the season. He also leads the Rangers with 52 RBIs, although the batting average has dipped he’s no doubt having a nice season and a big part of this turn around.

The 25-year-old Spencer Howard will get the start for the Rangers and hope to build off his momentum heading into the break. Howard allowed three runs on 11 hits in ten innings of work in his last two combined starts, but there have been some issues this season. Howard was sent down to Triple-A after a rough start, and has a 6.97 ERA on the year.