Thursday, August 20, 2026

There are several question marks surrounding San Francisco's injury-riddled roster. The Chargers are far healthier, and looked great in their 20-point win over the Texans last week.

Leading up to Thursday’s preseason game, the Raiders and the Texans had a joint practice, which included a scrimmage. Usually, when teams have joint practices leading up to preseason games, we don’t see many, if any, starters actually play in said game.

Kansas City's bullpen has also been dependable when protecting low scoring contests, while the Athletics have generally received solid relief work when their starters provide competitive outings. Add in the tendency for series finales to play at a slower pace as both clubs look to close things out cleanly, and this matchup profiles as one of the better under opportunities on the board.

Kansas City's bullpen has also been dependable when protecting low scoring contests, while the Athletics have generally received solid relief work when their starters provide competitive outings. Add in the tendency for series finales to play at a slower pace as both clubs look to close things out cleanly, and this matchup profiles as one of the better under opportunities on the board.

Kansas City's bullpen has also been dependable when protecting low scoring contests, while the Athletics have generally received solid relief work when their starters provide competitive outings. Add in the tendency for series finales to play at a slower pace as both clubs look to close things out cleanly, and this matchup profiles as one of the better under opportunities on the board.

While the total is rather low, it's worth a look here in the finale. The under has cashed in three in a row, while going 5-1 in the past six games for the Nationals. Washington has managed 2.8 runs per game in the past five outings, too.

Leading up to Thursday’s preseason game, the Raiders and the Texans had a joint practice, which included a scrimmage. Usually, when teams have joint practices leading up to preseason games, we don’t see many, if any, starters actually play in said game.

There are several question marks surrounding San Francisco's injury-riddled roster. The Chargers are far healthier, and looked great in their 20-point win over the Texans last week.

Kansas City's bullpen has also been dependable when protecting low scoring contests, while the Athletics have generally received solid relief work when their starters provide competitive outings. Add in the tendency for series finales to play at a slower pace as both clubs look to close things out cleanly, and this matchup profiles as one of the better under opportunities on the board.

Gerrit Cole has been great in his last four starts. He has only given up four earned runs in 24.2 innings in those starts, racking up 26 strikeouts along the way. Kyle Bradish has been solid this year with a 3.65 ERA in 133.0 innings.

Underdog

When you get swept by the Twins, it's never a good sign. The White Sox may have lost two of three against the Cubs, but the Cubs they played them tough and Chicago is a significantly better team than the Twins. I don't trust the Braves lineup enough right now to generate enough runs to pick up the win.

The Rays will stack up righties against Shane Bieber, who is a reverse-splits pitcher. Ian Seymour has posted 3 straight quality starts for Tampa, and Toronto is still missing Vlad. Tampa also has a huge advantage in the bullpen.

The Angels average 4.0 runs per game, which is 26th in the league. In their last eight games, seven have gone under the projected game total of 8.5. Walbert Urena has only given up seven earned runs in his last 36.0 innings.

This should be a great pitching matchup, and the Rays are swinging the bats slightly better than the Blue Jays right now. The Rays beat the Blue Jays 12-2 in Rasmussen's last start, and while it may not be a blow out win tonight, they should be able to do enough offensively to win by two or more runs behind another strong pitching performance.