Game Time:  1:10 PM ET, Thursday, May 12th,  2022 

Venue: Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan

Where to Watch: MLB.TV

DraftKings: Moneyline: A’s +110, Tigers -130; O/U 7

 BetMGM: Moneyline:  

PointsBet: Moneyline: 

Athletics: 12-19, 5th place AL West

Tigers: 9-21, 5th place AL Central

An American league matchup of an awful West Team and an awful Central team.  This is truly a Toilet Bowl of immense proportions.  So why preview it?.. For the Great Betting Opportunity.  During a lifetime of gambling I have met dozens of Whales that bet big… not on the great matchups… but on the terrible ones.  When you lay action on the two best teams playing each other you run the risk of having no idea on what SHOULD happen.  Both teams are great, both teams are capable of getting that premier performance to beat the other.  The counterpart is betting on the worst matchups… the teams that seemingly never transcend.  The Oakland Athletics are not drawing fans on purpose to try and get a fast track for moving to Las Vegas (yes that is the plot of the movie Major League come to life).  The Detroit Tigers are terrible in so many ways that the 9 wins they have during the first 30 games…. Is actually surprising!!  9 wins means the Tigers are actually getting the occasional lucky bounce… because they aren’t getting anything from their players.    So if you have been lucky enough to find this preview I will give you a prediction (below) that is based purely on the pitching matchup and the numbers.  Nothing else… no emotion.. No waxing nostalgic for a team that is from a great city or plays in a historic ballpark… No BS poetry about how I see something deeply brewing in the Bullpen.  The A’s and the Tigers deserve none of it.  They will get a cold, unemotional betting play that will be accurate based on the numbers.

The Oakland Athletics have won only 2 of their last ten games. ONLY TWO.  Both of those wins were against… THE DETROIT TIGERS.  They went 6 Unders, 2 Over and 2 Push.  Historically the A’s have always been underfunded and therefore at a deep disadvantage.  The movie MONEYBALL starring Brad Pitt features some of the struggles the Athletics face (no money for Soda in the clubhouse, spending an ⅛ on their roster compared to the Red Sox… blah blah).  That BS works in places like Detroit or Cleveland… because the landlocked middle Americans have no other option but to keep desperately cheering for their hometown team.  In Oakland you can take a ten minute train ride to see the San Francisco Giants… so you and your kids and the wife and your mother in law… simply end up being Giants fans.  The Giants are a great team that spends the money and has soda in the clubhouse.  The Athletics are not just consistently terrible (with the exception of the brief time they led the league in MONEYBALL) , they have a better option across the street.  So the league should grant this team the right to move to Vegas… but they should require that the current owner sell first!  If the Team can’t manage a fanbase here… what makes you think they will do better in a market with a lower median income?  

The Detroit Tigers have won only 3 of their last ten games. One of those wins was against the Oakland Athletics.  They have logged 9 UNDERS and 1 Over.  Detroit has averaged only 2.4 runs per game during that stretch… of course they got 14 runs in those 3 wins… so a random game for the Tigers features almost no offense at all.  Detroit Historically is a boom or bust town.  When the cars were churning off the assembly-line in Detroit’s heyday the Tigers were something to see. After the collapse of Detroit the team tends to go into long lulls of terribleness before they find some luck with young players and then they push for a playoff team… all the while knowing they will fall back into obscurity when the heavy spending teams form better cities pluck any stars they may have.   Detroit is in a lull right now with plenty of pitchers and a couple of line-up guys on the injury list.  They are a numbers drain… low in every number you want big and big in every number you want small.

Over the last 30 days AAA Sports is 31-17 in baseball picks!  That is +$11,600!  Get ahead of the game before basketball ends and baseball is all the action you can find!  Go get it! Get AAA Sports’ picks AND Get Big Al’s picks!!…They are available right now at the Shop Picks Page,where you can find all of the Best Bets from our champion sports handicappers.  And stay with BigAl.com for all your favorite sports… MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, NCAAF, NCAAB.  Remember winning a wager is more fun than making the wager!

The Athletics are 28th in scoring with 3.29 runs per game, 29th in batting average with .200, and 30th in OBP with .263.

Detroit is 30th (last) in runs per game with 2.83, 24th in batting average with .221, and 23rd in OBP with .292.

Oakland is 16th in ERA with 3.66, 15th in WHIP with 1.23, and 26th in errors… wracking up 23 goofs in the first 30 games.

Detroit is 10th in ERA with 3.48 and 10th in WHIP with 1.19.  The fielding errors aren’t great as they are 17th having committed 17 so far this season.

Our prediction for Thursday May 12th is... Tigers 2 - Athletics 1

Simply put, the Tigers have better pitching.  Neither team is hitting it well or scoring it well… but on a long enough timeline the Tigers would win more than lose against the Athletics because of better pitching.  Oakland has also added SS Jed Lowrie to the injured list with a sore back… even if he plays (listed as quest) he doesn’t add much… but I’d rather drive a grounder up the gut against a hobbled shortstop or a backup shortstop than against a starter in full health.

Don't miss our champion handicappers' Free MLB Picks and Premium Selections every day here at Bigal.com. Just click on Shop Picks for our Best Bets, or click on Shop Subscriptions to join for a week or a month. And if you enjoyed this Athletics/Tigers preview, be sure to bookmark Bigal.com for our daily Game Previews and Predictions.

Detroit is 0-6 (-7 units) at home when the total is 7 to 7.5

Detroit has had 0 Overs and 7 Unders against AL West opponents.

Oakland is 0 Overs and 6 Unders on the road when the total is set 7 to 7.5.

Athletics: SS Jed Lowrie (back) Quest ** C Stephen Vogt (knee) Out ** RF Stephen Piscotty (calf) Out ** CF Skye Bolt (oblique) Out

Tigers: LF V Reyes (quad) Out *8 C J Rogers (elbow) Out 

Athletics: RHP James Kaprielian, 0-2, 5.87 ERA, 9 strikeouts in 7 innings pitched.  1.57 WHIP.

Tigers: RHP Beau Brieske, 0-2, 4.20 ERA, 9 strikeouts in 15 innings pitched.  1.20 WHIP.  This kid is young and green.  Just 24 years old and a couple games removed from his debut.  He has a better bullpen backing him up (better meaning they both stink, but statistically better than the A’s)

Oakland: 2B Tony Kemp, 3B Sheldon Nuese, DH Jed Lowrie, C Sean Murphy, 1B Seth Brown, RF Ramon Laureano, SS Kevin Smith, CF Cristian Pache

Detroit: LF Robbie Grossman, RF Austin Meadows, SS Javier Baez, 3B Jeimer Candelario, DH Miguel Cabrarera, 2B Jonathan Schoop, CF Will Castro, 1B Spencer Torkleson, C Eric Haase

Athletics: Mark Kotsay

Tigers: A.J. Hinch

Partly Cloudy.  80* as the midwest is getting some Spring heat.  Mild wind, mild humidity.