Los Angeles Angels vs Chicago White Sox MLB Picks, Odds, Predictions 4/1/21
2021-04-01 22:05:00 EDT
The Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels meet Thursday in MLB Opening Day action at Angel Stadium.
The Chicago White Sox are coming off a 35-win season and enter this year as a sneaky World Series contender. The White Sox are loaded offensively with Jose Abreu, Yasmani Grandal and Tim Anderson and they added Adam Eaton to the bottom of the order. The White Sox finished last season ranked sixth in batting average, fifth in runs and third in homers. Pitching wise, the White Sox should benefit from a full season of Dallas Keuchel and the addition of Lance Lynn adds depth to the starting rotation. The White Sox will be a team to keep an eye on this season. Lucas Giolito gets the ball, and he was 4-3 with a 3.48 ERA and 97 strikeouts last season. Giolito is 2-0 with a 3.32 ERA and 22 strikeouts in his career against the Angels.
The Los Angeles Angels enter year two under manager Joe Maddon and hope to make the postseason for the first time since 2014. The health of Shohei Ohtani will go a long way for the Angels, as he provides depth in the batting order to take pressure off Mike Trout and he’s another quality arm in the rotation. The Angels finished ninth in on base percentage and runs scored last season, so there’s potential with this lineup. The Angels starting rotation added Alex Cobb and José Quintana, but it’s the bullpen that’s interesting. The Angels bullpen has six new faces, including closer Raisel Iglesias, set up man Steve Cishek and mid reliever Alex Claudio. Dylan Bundy gets the ball, and he was 6-3 with a 3.29 ERA and 72 strikeouts last season. Bundy is 4-0 with a 3.86 ERA and 31 strikeouts in his career against the White Sox.
The White Sox are 1-7 in their last 8 road games and 2-9 in their last 11 overall. The Angels are 4-1 in their last 5 home games and 0-4 in their last 4 games following an off day. The over is 6-1 in White Sox last 7 overall. The over is 22-8-2 in Angels last 32 home games. The White Sox are 6-22 in the last 28 meetings in Los Angeles and 2-10 in the last 12 meetings.
The Chicago White Sox are the better team here on paper and I’d probably lean toward Giolito over Bundy in the starting role, but it just feels like the Angels need to set the tone here if they’re going to end the postseason drought and actually get something out of Trout’s prime. While it’s just one game, the Angels need to start positive and not set themselves behind the eight ball in the standings. The Angels had some success in the spring and need a strong start if they’re going to stop being the same old Angels. I’ll take the plus money with the home team.
