The Detroit Tigers end their 10-game road trip on Sunday night in Oakland. Neither team is off to that great of a start in 2021. 

Both teams had some recent success against a common opponent - Houston. That gives us some insight into this free pick.

TIPS GETTING YOU READY FOR THE 2021 MLB SEASON

Game: Detroit Tigers (6-6, 7-5 ATS) at Oakland Athletics (5-7, 5-7 ATS)

When: 4:07 PM ET, Sunday, April 18, 2021

Where: Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, California

Current Line: OFF Total: OFF

TV Coverage: NBC Sports California

After getting hammered by the Houston Astros in four games to start the 2021 MLB season, Oakland took two of three from the Astros last week. In the first series, the A’s gave up eight runs in Game 1 and then nine runs each in the other three.

In last week’s series, Oakland turned the tables on Houston and won 6-2 and 7-3 after losing the series opener. 

Detroit got the Astros right after the Oakland series and took care of business in three straight. The Tigers won 6-2, 8-2, and 6-4. Rookie pitcher Casey Mize got his first career win in the series opener. 

The recent scoring binges by both teams raise an eyebrow. Neither team is among the scoring leaders for the season. Detroit is 18th in runs scored per game (4.08) and Oakland is 22nd (4.00).

We won our last time out, take a look at our Gonzaga vs. Creighton free pick.

But, when you look at each team’s last three games, Oakland is second at 7.67 and Detroit is third at 6.67. 

For the Athletics, Jed Lowrie is off to a great start hitting .333 with two home runs and 11 RBI. For the Tigers, it’s Jeimer Candelario, who’s hitting .326, and Wilson Ramos, who has six homers and eight RBI.

The projected pitchers for Sunday’s matchup are Matthew Boyd for Detroit and Chris Bassitt for the A’s. Boyd has pitched well thus far going 2-1 with a very respectable 1.86 ERA.

On the other end, Bassitt is 1-2 and has a 4.96 ERA. Surprisingly, that is the best ERA among all Oakland starters. Bassitt has allowed a total of nine earned runs in his three starts. With a team ERA of 6.00, it’s easy to see why Oakland is dead last in the majors in runs allowed per game (6.17).

Detroit isn’t all that much better. The Tigers rank 23rd in runs allowed per game at 5.17. As good as Boyd has pitched thus far, he has given up 16 hits in 19.1 innings. That’s quite a few baserunners. 

So far this season, Oakland is trending toward the Over. The total has gone Over in eight of the twelve A’s games this season. If you go back to last season, the total has now gone Over in 13 of Oakland’s last 18 games. 

In Game 1 of the series, the total was set at 8.5. Oakland has faced totals of at least 8.5 in each of its past five games. In the past three, the total went Over.

Detroit has faced totals of 8.5 or higher in eight of its last ten games. Both games in which the total was 8.0 went Over. 

Sunday’s total is likely to be 8.0 or 8.5. If it goes any higher, don’t play the Over. 

MLB Free Pick:  OVER up to 8.5

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