Odds to Win World Series<\/strong>: 33\/1<\/p>\nOakland is the defending AL West champion somehow and has to be viewed as a threat once again in 2013.<\/p>\n
Probable lineup<\/h3>\n
1. Coco Crisp, CF
\n2. John Jaso, C
\n3. Yoenis Cespedes, LF
\n4. Josh Reddick, RF
\n5. Brandon Moss, 1B
\n6. Seth Smith\/Chris Young, DH
\n7. Josh Donaldson, 3B
\n8. Scott Sizemore, 2B
\n9. Hiroyuki Nakajima, SS<\/p>\n
None of these names will jump off the page at you. The only addition from last year is Yoenis Cespedes. The batting order may be the weakness of this team although the position players will likely be a strength \u2013 confusing? It simply means that what they lack in offensive prowess, the more than make up for with their defense. The offense will rely on speed at the top and power from the surprising Josh Reddick (who has turned out to be a Stud) and the DH combo of Seth Smith and Chris Young. As always this offense does just enough to be competitive \u2013 I expect them to be average at best again and for the team to rely on pitching if they are to take the next step.<\/p>\n
Probable rotation<\/h3>\n
1. Brett Anderson
\n2. Jarrod Parker
\n3. Tommy Milone
\n4. A.J. Griffin
\n5. Bartolo Colon
\nALT: Dan Straily<\/p>\n
Potential is the theme of this starting rotation which makes them a tad scary. They have a ton of ability but are short on big-league experience apart from Bartolo Colon. Anderson, Milone, Parker, Griffin and Straily are all 26 years old or younger \u2013 they could be boom or absolute bust. There is a danger that health, sophomore slumps and Colon\u2019s PED issues could haunt this team but you have to love the arms that Oakland will trot out every night this season. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/p>\n
Bullpen<\/h3>\n
Closer: Grant Balfour
\nSetup: Ryan Cook, Sean Doolittle, Pat Neshek<\/p>\n
Like the starters, Oakland\u2019s pen is young and it is stacked. No doubt they will find a few more arms that they will trade away in a few years! The Pen was terrific last year and I expect the same this year.<\/p>\n
Off The Bench<\/h3>\n
C Derek Norris, IF Jemile Weeks, SS Jed Lowrie<\/p>\n
The bench may be considered a strength this year for the A\u2019s. They have two solid DH\u2019s \u2013 either one can be called upon at any time for a big hit and the team signed shortstop Jed Lowrie this year to provide experience, mentorship and quality relief for any of the young infielders. Oakland will never be out of a game with the quality on their bench!<\/p>\n
Betting Prediction:<\/h3>\n
I feel sorry for the Oakland A\u2019s \u2013 I really do. But they continue to be the bench mark in development of young players who are eager to prove their worth in MLB. Keep in mind also that the A\u2019s will have the privilege of having the Houston Astros in their division this year. That\u2019s good for a few more wins all by itself.<\/p>\n
But having the monsters – the Angels and Rangers in their division is no easy task.<\/p>\n
Bottom Line<\/strong>: The A\u2019s likely won\u2019t win the AL West again. If you are willing to place some $ on them, I admire you. More likely they finish third in the AL West and challenge for the second Wild card spot in the American league. It will be a fight for sure but I see them falling short of the playoffs – but it won\u2019t be due to lack of effort!<\/p>\nView The MLB Cappers Leaderboard For 2012 – Picks Packages for 2013 On Sale! \u2014\u2013><\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2013 Oakland A’s Betting Preview A lot of you are saying \u201chere we go again!\u201d The Oakland A\u2019s with a paltry payroll are expecting to compete with two spending goliaths in MLB. But as we have seen before, the Oakland A\u2019s will find a way to be competitive with names that may not have made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":35736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[670],"tags":[58562,58289,11962,11432,11222,26612,26613,12113,26614,46682,66513,10729,66497,678,681,11217,12115,12116,46683],"class_list":["post-60803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb-baseball","tag-2013-athletics","tag-2013-mlb-team-preview","tag-al-west","tag-al-west-predictions","tag-al-west-preview","tag-athletics-futures","tag-athletics-mlb-picks","tag-athletics-odds","tag-athletics-predictions","tag-athletics-world-series-odds","tag-handicapping","tag-handicapping-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-betting","tag-mlb-gambling","tag-oakland-athletics","tag-oakland-athletics-picks","tag-oakland-athletics-predictions","tag-oakland-world-series-futures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60803"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107985,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60803\/revisions\/107985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}