Rangers vs Angels MLB | Only Late Game On Labor Day Holiday

In the grand scheme of things, Monday’s Texas Rangers at Los Angeles Angels matchup doesn’t mean much. However, it’s the only baseball game on the American Labor Day holiday after 7:10 p.m. ET. The Angels are favored on the MLB odds.

How to Bet Rangers at Angels MLB Odds & TV Info

When: Monday, 9:07 PM ET
Where: Angel Stadium
Probable pitchers (away/home): AJ Alexy/Jamie Barria
TV: MLB Extra Innings
Stream/gameday audio: https://www.mlb.com/live-stream-games/
Opening MLB Lines: Angels -145, Rangers +135 (total 9)

Why Bet on Texas?

The Rangers are 22-26 all-time on Labor Day, including an 8-4 loss last year at Seattle. Texas has dropped 5 of 8 and 8 of last 12 games on Labor Day. The club has played on the road for 10 of the past 11 years beginning 2010.

Texas has been in 5th place in the AL West for the last 102 days and already has been eliminated from playoff contention. The Rangers have not won consecutive road contests since taking 3 in a row to finish a four-game series from in May at the Twins. Texas has lost 16 straight (5/10-6/11) and 14 straight (7/4-8/8) this season, the 2 longest road losing skids in Rangers history.

The Rangers have a handful of guys on the injured list. Infielder Andy Ibanez was the latest as he was hurt Saturday against the Angels and it’s being called a hamstring strain. The 28-year-old carries a .260/.304/.415 with six home runs over 200 at-bats this season. Fellow infielder Brock Holt is on the COVID list.

It’s rookie AJ Alexy (1-0, 0.00) on the mound here. Alexy allowed just one hit over five scoreless innings to beat the Rockies in his major league debut last Monday. The 23-year-old finished up with four strikeouts and three walks, and almost all of the contact against him was soft.

Alexy was having an outstanding 2021 campaign in the minors prior to his big-league call-up, pitching to a 1.66 ERA in 65 innings pitched between Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Rock. He racked up 76 strikeouts in those 65 innings, along with a 1.02 WHIP.

An 11th-round pick of the Dodgers out of a Pennsylvania high school in 2016, Alexy spent the first year of his career in the Los Angeles system. The Dodgers included him as part of a three-player package to land Yu Darvish at the 2017 trade deadline. He’s likely to wind up in a bullpen role someday because of those control issues.

Why Bet on LA Angels?

The Angels are 22-10 (.688) in 1-run games this season; the .688 winning percentage leads the Majors. Their best record in 1-run games came in 1985, when the team went 30-13 (.698) in 1-run contests.

The Halos have put outfielder Justin Upton on the 10-day injured list with a right lumbar strain. He left Saturday’s game with the problem. This will be the second stint on the injured list for Upton this year, after missing almost a month with a low back strain earlier in the season. He’s only played in three games over the past couple weeks. Upton, 34, is batting .211 with 17 homers and 41 RBIs in 89 games this season. That means the entire projected starting outfield of the Angels, Upton, Mike Trout and Dexter Fowler, is on the injured list. Fowler is done for the year and Trout probably is.

Upton recently became the eighth active player to reach 1,000 RBI, along with Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, Evan Longoria, Ryan Zimmerman and Joey Votto. He is also the only active player with 300+ HR, 1000+ RBI and 150+ stolen bases and just the 36th player all-time to reach all three milestones.

Shohei Ohtani is one of four players in American League history with 43+ HR and 22+ SB in a season, joining Jose Canseco (1991, 1998), Ken Griffey Jr. (1999) and Alex Rodriguez (2007).

It’s Jaime Barria (2-2) on the hill for LA. Barria yielded two runs in 4 1/3 innings in his start against the Yankees last Tuesday. Barria held the Yankees scoreless through his first three innings of work before giving up a solo homer to Anthony Rizzo in the fourth and another solo shot to Gary Sanchez in the fifth. Barria struck out two and walked two and now holds a 5.40 ERA and 21/15 K/BB ratio over 38 1/3 innings this season.

In seven games since joining Angels rotation, he is 2-2 with a 4.45 ERA (32.1 IP – 16 ER) and 20 strikeouts. In nine career games (all starts) against the Rangers, he is 5-2 with a 3.18 ERA (45.1 IP – 16 ER) and 44 strikeouts.