The Oakland A’s are running away with the AL West. They have won 8 of their last 10 including three in a row. Meanwhile the trailing Angels and Rangers have sputtered. The Angels are 7.5 games back and the Rangers 9 games back. With just about 29 games left, the A’s can all but wrap up the AL West with a decent series against Baltimore—especially if the other two teams falter.

Baltimore is 60-73 and playing for pride at this point. They are 18 games out in the Wild Card and that means they are done for the season. Today, they will have to face Joe Blanton for Oakland. Blanton is 14-10 with a 4.45 ERA. Unfortunately for the Orioles, Blanton is 6-1 with a 2.47 ERA in Oakland—where today’s game takes place. He’s also been pitching much better since the All Star break.

The Orioles have been playing well until they ran into Texas. Erik Bedard is 12-9 with a 3.92 ERA and he’s taking the hill tonight. He has a tendency to give up a lot of hits. Until his last outing, the Orioles had lost 5 straight games he started in. That outing was against basement AL East team Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Baltimore won that game 3-2. Oakland is a -125 favorite in today’s content and they can smell the playoffs.