Player Trends for Athletics vs White Sox – Sunday, September 15th, 2024

Oakland Athletics

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Chicago White Sox

As the Chicago White Sox host the Oakland Athletics on September 15, 2024, both teams are looking to shake off their disappointing seasons. The White Sox, with a record of 34-115, have struggled significantly and sit at the bottom of the standings, while the Athletics are not far behind with a record of 65-84. Following a nail-biting 7-6 victory over the Athletics yesterday, the White Sox will aim to build on that momentum, although their overall performance this year has left much to be desired.

On the mound, the White Sox are slated to start Nick Nastrini, who has had a rocky season, evidenced by an abbreviated outing in his last start on September 3, where he allowed 4 earned runs in just 2 innings. Conversely, the Athletics will counter with JP Sears, who has shown some recent promise with a solid performance in his last game, pitching 6 innings without allowing an earned run. However, Sears has been labeled one of the less effective pitchers in the league, and his projections indicate he may struggle against a White Sox offense that ranks 30th in MLB.

While both teams are far from playoff contention, the projections suggest that the White Sox might have an edge in this matchup, potentially surprising the Athletics. With the White Sox showing a projected score of 4.31 runs, and the Athletics expected to tally 5.18 runs, the game total is set at 8.5 runs, indicating a more competitive affair could be on the horizon. This matchup could be pivotal for both teams as they look to finish the season on a stronger note, especially for the White Sox, who have had few victories to celebrate this season.

Oakland Athletics Insights

• Oakland Athletics – 1st Five Innings (F5) Moneyline
  The leading projection system (THE BAT X) forecasts that JP Sears will average a total of 2.8 earned runs in today’s outing.
  Explain: THE BAT X is a highly sophisticated projection system that accounts for a multitude of factors like ballpark, weather, umpire, defense, and more.
• Zack Gelof – Over/Under 0.5 Hits (-180/+135)
  Zack Gelof is projected to bat 5th on the lineup card in today’s game, which would be an upgrade from his 76% rate of hitting in the bottom-half of the batting order this season.
  Explain: The higher in the order a player bats, the more plate appearances he will get and the more opportunities he will get to hit the Over for every market. A player who hits higher in the order than he normally does may provide extra value opportunity since the market may be based on him hitting lower.
• Lawrence Butler – Over/Under 1.5 Total Bases (+110/-145)
  Lawrence Butler has a 79th percentile opposite-field rate on his flyballs (34.3%) and is a great match for the park considering he’ll be hitting them out towards baseball’s 5th-shallowest LF fences today.
  Explain: This player’s skill set matches up particularly well with the park he’s in today, which may lead to better-than-usual performance.

Chicago White Sox Insights

• Korey Lee – Over/Under 0.5 Total Bases (-130/+100)
  Korey Lee has been cold lately, with his seasonal exit velocity of 88-mph dropping to 83.4-mph in the past 7 days.
  Explain: Hitting the ball hard increases the chances of either a home run or the ball landing in fair territory for a hit before a fielder can get to it.
• It may be sensible to expect better results for the Chicago White Sox offense in the future, given that the leading projection system (THE BAT X) believes they are the unluckiest offense in the majors this year.
  Explain: When teams underperform their projected talent level, markets may undervalue them even while they are likely to perform better in the near future.

Betting Trends

• Over/Under 8.0 Game Total (-120/+100)
  The Chicago White Sox have hit the Game Total Under in 7 of their last 9 games at home (+4.85 Units / 49% ROI)
• Oakland Athletics – Moneyline (-165)
  The Oakland Athletics have hit the Moneyline in 34 of their last 62 games (+13.50 Units / 20% ROI)
• Tyler Soderstrom – Over/Under 0.5 Total Bases (-135/+105)
  Tyler Soderstrom has hit the Total Bases Under in 6 of his last 9 games (+4.05 Units / 41% ROI)