Oakland Athletics vs. New York Yankees Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 6/27/2022

Time: 7:05 p.m. ET

Venue: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY

Where to watch: YES, NBC Sports California

DraftKings: Yankees -295, Athletics +245

BetMGM: Yankees -300, Athletics +240

Caesars: Yankees -303, Athletics +250

Athletics: 25-49

Yankees: 53-20

You can’t find a team that had a weirder weekend than the New York Yankees. You also can’t write a better script than to have Aaron Judge start the series with a walk-off hit, and then cap off the series with a walk-off three-run home run, while in the middle getting no-hit and dominated by the Houston Astros pitching staff.

After earning a split in what could be an American League Championship Series preview, the Yankees will stay home and begin a three-game series against the Oakland Athletics, which might be yet another easy series for the team with the best record in baseball.

But we need to talk about what happened Sunday with the Yankees, because even on this precedent, this is as impressive as baseball can get. The Yankees were no-hit on Saturday night in a combined no-no led by Christian Javier, a 3-0 win for the Astros. Then we get to Sunday, and the Yankees are no-hit through six innings again. They ended up going their last 15.1 innings without a hit.

Then in the seventh, the comeback began. Giancarlo Stanton hit a solo homer in the seventh, then DJ LeMahieu hit a game-tying two-run shot in the bottom of the eighth. That set the stage in the bottom of the 10th with Judge, the presumptive MVP favorite at this point, hitting a 3-run blast to left-center field – just days after hitting a walk-off base hit on Thursday.

So, a weird series. But one where the Yankees reminded the Astros that if they wanted to get through New York again this year like they have in years past, this will not be a walk in the park.

"These guys, they never waver," Judge said. "They stick to their plan, stick to their approach and continue to grind it out. And then Big G hit one about 120 to center, so it was all good."

Judge’s blast was his 28th home run of the season, still putting a pace together that has him reaching 60 if he keeps this level of consistency up. Funny enough, he’s putting these MVP number up while in the midst of a contract season. He’ll be a free agent this winter and things would lead me to believe that him winning an MVP and leading the best team in baseball, all while leaving in a short turnaround, is something that might happen. He and the Yankees avoided arbitration last week with a one-year, $19 million. The Yankees won’t be short on spending big. The question is how much will they pay him after this kind of season?

"What I marveled at was just how easy he swung," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "It's like he's just trying to touch the ball."

"We got the best team on the planet," Judge said.

Right now, that’s not up for debate. What is up for debate is the Athletics continuing to play baseball right now, and it’s just an eyesore. But hey, they managed to win two of three over the weekend against the Kansas City Royals, which in the grand scheme of things really does not matter. It’s just two piles of meh going out there and playing baseball.

The A’s won the finale 5-3, thanks to a homer from Seth Brown and two RBI from Nick Allen. Brown’s 10th homer of the season leads the team, which again, is a reason to get this group out of Oakland.

“It was a two-out rally in the seventh,” Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said. “... We had some momentum and for Nick to drop one into centerfield like that, we haven’t been getting many of those types of hits. It was good to see a ball fall in for us and give us a lead there.”

Paul Blackburn is expected to get the nod for the A’s, while Jordan Montgomery gets things going for the Yankees.

I was very cocky this weekend for the Rangers-Nats series. I have more reason to think this will stay true with the Yankees. It might be an awful series for the green and yellow. But hey, that waterfront looks better by the day. Yankees win 8-2

Athletics are 44-77 the past three seasons as an underdog.

Athletics are 4-17 this month.

Yankees are 19-2 this season as a favorite of -200 or more.

Athletics:
Tony Kemp (L) LF
Jonah Bride (R) 2B
Seth Brown (L) DH
Jed Lowrie (S) 1B
Stephen Vogt (L) C
Sheldon Neuse (R) 3B
Chad Pinder (R) RF
Cristian Pache (R) CF
Nick Allen (R) SS
SP - Paul Blackburn

Yankees:
DJ LeMahieu (R) 3B
Aaron Judge (R) CF
Anthony Rizzo (L) 1B
Giancarlo Stanton (R) RF
Josh Donaldson (R) DH
Gleyber Torres (R) 2B
Aaron Hicks (S) LF
Isiah Kiner-Falefa (R) SS
Jose Trevino (R) C
SP - Jordan Montgomery

Batting average: Tony Kemp -- .227

Home runs: Seth Brown -- 10

RBI: Seth Brown -- 36

Wins: Paul Blackburn -- 6

ERA: Paul Blackburn -- 2.97

Batting average: Aaron Judge -- .294

Home runs: Aaron Judge -- 28

RBI: Aaron Judge -- 56

Wins: Jameson Taillon -- 8

ERA: Nestor Cortes -- 2.51