the A's are in the Tigers head bad. they have them on the ropes and they will knock them out early today.
more importantly the pitching match up; Fister is a disaster waiting to happen. he has an insane BABIP of .332, while the opposition is hitting .280 off him and a line drive rate of nearly 22%. not good, going up against a Oakland offense that woke up yesterday and is now reeling with confidence.
this is a 5 o clock start, so in a sense you can consider the first few innings a "day game". in day games, per say, Fister has given 9 HRs, 78 hits in 78 innings pitched so its key for Oakland to jump on him early.
not to mention, to close out the season in his last three starts, he had a 1.43 WHIP, giving up 25 hits in 21 innings pitched. so he isn't exactly coming into this game feeling great about his stuff.
on the other side Dan Straily, comes in with a boat load of confidence finishing off the season with solid numbers; last three starts, 1.17 WHIP, 2.50 ERA while surrending just 12 hits in 19 innings pitched. again i refer to early innings day start theme which is crucial, cause in day games, Straily is outstanding, with a 2.14 ERA, 54 innings pitched on just 37 hits, 1 long ball and a total of 13 earned runs. domination.
(yes it is a 5 o clock start, so technically not a "day game") but the first few innings will be and in this game they are so critical. Straily has the superior numbers here than Fister. As I pointed out earlier, Oakland is already fkn with the Tigers heads bad and if they get out on the scoreboard early, I think that is all she wrote and this thing could get ugly quick.
Oakland +135