Oakland vs Toronto MLB Game Preview

A good GM should be able to look at his team in a truly objective fashion and decide what needs to be done to make them better than they already are. Alex Anthopolous of the Toronto Blue Jays is now starting to look like a genius after the moves he made at the trade deadline. The simple fact of the matter is that there is no hotter team in baseball betting right now. The Jays will face Oakland on Thursday afternoon in the final game of a 3-game series.

Oakland Athletics vs Toronto Blue Jays MLB Game Preview

Date/Time: Thursday, August 13th, 12:37 PMVenue: Rogers Centre, Toronto, OntarioTV: SNETRadio: SN590Opening line: Toronto -131 

NINE straight wins? These @BlueJays are ferocious. http://t.co/WnEEdys1fy pic.twitter.com/aDfUaEoBgF

— MLB (@MLB) August 12, 2015

 Toronto (62-52) spent the majority of the first half playing at or around .500, which was enough to keep them in the hunt in the super competitive AL East. That number wasn’t enough, though, when the Yankees started to get hot and open up a lead at the top. The Jays soon found themselves 6.5 games back of the leaders, and in real danger of falling out of the playoff race. Then came the trade deadline and a number of moves that seems to have totally transformed this team into a winner. They have reeled of 9 straight wins, which included a sweep of the Yankees, and are now just a half game out of first in the division. They also no have a 2-game lead over the chasing pack in the Wild Card race. Everyone had better start paying attention, because this looks like a team on a mission. Veteran knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (6-10, 3.93 ERA) will start on Thursday. The Jays have won in each of his last 4 starts.It has not been the best of seasons for the Oakland Athletics (51-63), but they must have been coming into this series with some confidence after taking 3 of 4 from the Houston Astros. They have been playing some real nice defense of late, but despite holding the powerful offense of the Jays to just 4 runs in the series opener, they still fell 4-2. The A’s have actually been a little better on the road than they have been at home this season, but they are running into a Blue Jays team that is red hot right now, and who have a very impressive 37-21 record in their own ball park. It will be Sonny Gray (12-4, 2.06 ERA) who will get the start for Oakland in this one. Gray has been stellar all year, and has given up just 4 earned runs in his last 4 starts.This might well be the best chance that Oakland have of getting a win in this series. The sort of momentum that the Jays are carrying right now is hard to stop, though, which is why I think Toronto will win a close one.

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Sources:Sports.Yahoo.com (http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/6708/)Baseball-Reference.com (http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/grayso01.shtml)