AL West rivals Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels start a pivotal four-game series on Thursday at Rangers Ballpark (8:05 pm ET, FOX).
Los Angeles (51-46 SU) is five games back of the first-place Rangers (55-40 SU), and is 7.5 games behind Tampa Bay Rays for the AL Wild Card spot.
MLB Odds and Baseball Picks at various sportsbooks have the Rangers as -175 moneyline favorites and the over/under total at 8.
Los Angeles will start ace righthander Jered Weaver, who is 9-5 this season with a 3.16 ERA. Texas counters with lefthander Cliff Lee, who is 8-4 with a 2.59 ERA.
The Angels got beat 10-6 by the New York Yankees when the teams finished off a three-game set Wednesday. The Angels were +180 underdogs and the score went well over the total of 9. Joel Pineiro gave up 11 hits and six runs over his six innings in the Angels loss.
The Rangers lost the finale of a three-game set against the Detroit Tigers Wednesday, dropping a 4-1 decision. The Rangers had been a -110 pick’em and the score fell below the over/under total of 8.5. Colby Lewis gave up nine hits and four runs over seven innings in suffering the Rangers loss.
The Angels are 4-2 SU in their last six games while the Rangers are 5-2 SU in their last seven games. The Angels are 2-8 SU in their last 10 games on the road and Texas is 1-4 SU in its last five games at home.
The Angels are 2-4 SU in the past six overall meetings with the Rangers, and 3-8 SU in the last 11 meetings at Texas.
