n the heat of an intense American League Wild Card race, the Boston Red Sox are sprinting to the finish in September. They’re a few games above the cutoff while remaining close to moving up in the Wild Card standings. This series against a struggling Athletics club will be crucial to their playoff hopes.
The Red Sox enter as -164 moneyline favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook. The total is set at nine runs. Let’s dig into a preview, prediction, and best bet for this Athletics vs. Red Sox matchup.
Athletics at Red Sox prediction, preview
We’ve got a very Punxsutawney Phil–coded matchup in this one, as veteran Athletics left-hander Jeffrey Springs takes on promising Red Sox youngster Connelly Early.
Springs won’t wow you with velocity, but he has a wily bag of tricks. His cutter and fastball produce a lot of pop-ups, while his changeup has been extremely difficult to make solid contact with. Springs isn’t a high-strikeout guy, but he keeps the walks down and does well at limiting hard contact. He’s the kind of dependable back-of-the-rotation arm that many teams need.
No disrespect to Springs, but the Red Sox are hoping Connelly Early can be much more over the course of his career. The 23-year-old was rated as the sixth-best prospect in a strong Boston farm system, and he delivered on expectations in his first start, punching out 11 batters over five scoreless innings. The most important sign: all five of his pitches (fastball, slider, sinker, changeup, curveball) had above-average stuff, per Pitch Profiler.
Oh, and who did he carve up in that start? The same Athletics team he faces on Tuesday.
It’s fair to expect some regression for Early. But this is a bad spot for Springs against a Boston lineup that has taken significant strides offensively after trading away Rafael Devers. The Red Sox should romp as they move closer to securing their playoff spot.
