Angels at Rangers MLB Betting Odds and Pick for April 15th

MY PICK

ANGELS

The weekend is almost here. What better way to ring in the weekend than by betting on some MLB action? You’ve got no shortage of options at your disposal on Friday, with a full 15-game slate spread throughout the day. That includes 13 games set to get underway in the evening hours.

One of the games is an American League West showdown between a couple of teams hoping for better things in the future. The Los Angeles Angels, who have made the playoffs just once in the last decade, are hoping to get back into the postseason later this year. They’ll head to Arlington for another date against the new-and-improved Texas Rangers on Friday night.

The Rangers got the better of the Halos in Thursday’s series opener. Texas’ bats came to life against Shohei Ohtani and the Angels’ bullpen on their way to a stirring 10-5 victory. It was just the Rangers’ second victory in their first six games of the new campaign. LA, meanwhile, fell to 3-4 with the loss.

Veteran Matt Bush will open a bullpen game for Texas in this one. The Angels will counter with young left-hander Reid Detmers, who will make his second start of the young season.

BetOnline oddsmakers say this game could really go either way. The Angels are slight -111 moneyline favorites on the road, while Texas checks in at +101 to win it on their home turf.

Los Angeles Angels

For a team that hasn’t made the playoffs in about a half-decade, the Angels do seem to enter every season with lofty expectations. I suppose having the two best players in the entire sport on the same roster is the reason for that. In spite of the presence of Ohtani and Mike Trout, Los Angeles hasn’t won an AL West title since 2014.

LA is expecting big things out of Detmers, too. The 22-year-old is the highest-rated prospect in the Halos’ system. He struggled toward the end of last season after getting the call to the majors for the first time, but he was able to win a starting rotation job this year out of spring training.

In his first start of 2022 last week against Houston, Detmers yielded two runs on three hits across four innings of work. He was limited to 75 pitches in the Angels’ eventual 13-6 defeat, a game that got out of hand well after Detmers departed. After giving up a leadoff home run to Jose Altuve in the first inning, Detmers settled down and kept the Angels in the game.

Detmers profiled as a flyball pitcher in the minors, but that skill should come in handy tonight in the Rangers’ spacious home ballpark. Detmers also posted a strikeout rate north of 34 percent at the Triple-A level last year, but those skills haven’t quite translated in his limited time in the majors thus far.

The Angels are still waiting on Ohtani to get things going at the plate. In his first seven games following his AL MVP campaign last year, Ohtani is hitting just .172/.200/.241 with five hits in 30 plate appearances. Ohtani has still yet to leave the yard after slugging a career-high 46 home runs a season ago, as well.

On the bright side, Trout seems to be finding his stroke. The three-time AL MVP smoked a 472-foot home run in last night’s game. Despite a sluggish .211 batting average thus far, Trout is still reaching base at a solid .375 clip through six games this term.

Texas Rangers

The Rangers have posted five consecutive losing seasons for the first time in franchise history. This past winter, though, the team attempted to patch things up with a free-agency spending spree. Texas paid Corey Seager and Marcus Semien over $500 million in guaranteed money, which is one way to announce you’re now trying to win again. The team also fortified the big-league roster with lesser acquisitions like Jon Gray and Kole Calhoun.

So far, the moves haven’t necessarily paid off. Of course, they’re also just six games into a 162-game marathon, so it’s far, far too early to draw any definitive conclusions. Seager hit his first home run as a Ranger in Thursday’s win, while Semien is off to a slow start at the plate. After challenging for AL MVP honors in Toronto last season, Semien has just three hits through his first 27 at-bats as a Ranger.

We’ll see how Chris Woodward approaches tonight’s game on the pitching front. Veteran Matt Bush, who hasn’t been a full-time major leaguer since 2018, will open the game for the Rangers. The former high draft pick has bounced around the majors over the course of his career, though Texas is optimistic the 36-year-old still has some gas left in the tank. After Bush pitches the first inning or two, we’re likely to see Kolby Allard and a few relievers try to take Texas the rest of the way.

Allard, a left-hander, pitched an inning of scoreless relief against Colorado earlier in the week. He posted a strikeout rate of around 19 percent in 32 games a season ago for the Rangers, including 17 starts.

Allard went 0-2 in his four outings against the Angels last year, but that record is a bit misleading. He pitched to a solid 2.93 ERA in just over 15 innings of work against LAA.

Los Angeles Angels vs. Texas Rangers MLB Game Pick

Oddsmakers think this game has a chance to be another high-scoring affair after the two teams combined to put 15 runs on the board last night. Tonight’s Angels-Rangers rematch has an over/under of 10 runs, which is one of the highest marks on Friday’s slate.

Please Note:

The Angels went 11-8 in 19 games against the Rangers a season ago.

Detmers profiles pretty well for a matchup with the lefty-heavy Rangers. He’ll have the platoon advantage against most of Texas’ most threatening hitters, including Corey Seager, Nathaniel Lowe, Willie Calhoun, and Kole Calhoun. The Rangers aren’t nearly as well-equipped to deal with lefties, and I think the young southpaw will enjoy a bounce-back outing tonight.

I like the value on the Angels’ -111 moneyline in this one. Take LA to win it on the road.

Pick:

Los Angeles Angels

-111

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