In case you missed it, The Oakland Cespedeses blew out the Angels last night, scoring 9 runs combined in the last two innings. Cespedes flashed every single one of his tools en route to one of the best games you'll ever see a player have. It was pretty fun. Not "grand slam before making the first out of the game" fun, but, you know. Pretty fun.
Today's starters are Sonny Gray (5-1, 2.31) and Jered Weaver (6-3, 2.99). On paper, this looks like the most exciting matchup of the weekend -- however, on paper, the Max Scherzer vs. Sonny Gray looked fun too. It was not. Therefore, I expect this game to end with a final score of 15-13.
Sonny Gray will look to bounce back after his worst outing of the season -- 6 IP, 4 ER, 8 H versus the Tigers. Of course, if that's a pitcher's worst start of the season, the pitcher is pretty dang good. Last time he faced the Angels was September 17th, and he pitched 6 innings of 1 ER ball and struck out five.
Jered Weaver continues to be an effective major league starter despite having a fastball that competes with RA Dickey's. For what it's worth, this year he has a 4.16 FIP and a 4.30 xFIP. Last time he faced the A's was on September 25th, and he threw 7 innings of one run ball despite only striking out 2. I don't get Jered Weaver.
Here's the lineup. Obviously the big news is that Stephen Vogt got the call after destroying AAA. I'm unreasonably excited.