Three For Thursday – STLCards’ MLB Picks & Predictions (5/12/22)

Oakland Athletics preview
(Image Credit: Imagn)

Greetings, SAO readers! Each Thursday, I am going to bring you three of my favorite MLB bets for the day in a quick, easy to read article that we’ll call “Three For Thursday.” 

We have a fun day of games on tap, so let’s see what today has in store for us!

MLB Betting Picks & Predictions – Thursday

There are a lot of parallels with these two teams today. Both Oakland and Detroit have underwhelming offenses. Both teams are likely going nowhere in 2022. Both teams have young pitchers on the mound. That’s where I will side with Oakland. James Kaprielian posted solid numbers in 2021 and is now fully stretched out after a delayed start to his 2022 campaign. He threw 99 pitches in his second start, throwing 5 ⅔ innings of one run ball against a good Minnesota team. Of course, Oakland lost that game 1-0. I expect their offense to have at least some success against Beau Brieske today, as the Detroit starter has just a 9/7 K/BB ratio over 15 innings in his first three starts. Give me Oakland’s young pitcher over Detroit’s young pitcher, especially since we can get this at even odds.

We are starting to see offense pick up to some degree as temperatures warm up across the country. Hopefully, they have the roof open in Texas tonight. In either case, I like the over in this game. Taylor Hearn has been perhaps the worst starter in the major leagues this season for the Rangers, and the Royals are going with a patchwork back end of their rotation right now. Jon Heasley is likely to get the start tonight. Offense should be in the works, and the primary line has already moved up to 8 ½ on a lot of books. I like the eight number, even if you have to pay slightly more juice, just to cover the potential push.

This is a big statement series for the White Sox. They have underperformed compared to expectations to start the season. The offense has been a major issue. The bullpen coughed up an eight run, ninth inning lead against the Guardians the other night. Whatever could go wrong has gone wrong. Dylan Cease has the potential to be an ace for this team, and the White Sox undoubtedly have the starting pitching edge in this game. The Yankees will eventually hit a letdown spot, and this could be it with a road trip after the emotional series against the Blue Jays. As long as they can score some runs against Gil – which they should – I like the White Sox to take this game, potentially by multiple runs.