Houston Astros vs Los Angeles Angels Prediction, Pick and Preview, April 7 (4/7): MLB

Credit: photo by Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

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Preview

The Major League Baseball 2022 Season is here and the Houston Astros travel to Los Angeles to take on the Angels to play their first game of the season. The Astros won 13 of 19 games against the Angels last season.

HOUSTON ASTROS

The Astros won 95 games in 2021 and made it to the World Series, losing the the Braves in 6 games. They have most of their key players back so they should be good once again this season, although they traded one of their best hitter Carlos Correa to the Twins they still have Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman,  Yuli Gurriel and Michael Brantley to explode the home plate.

In their bullpen they had to let go Zack Greinke and lost Lance McCullers due to injury, but they will get back Justin Verlander, who missed all of last season. He will join Jose Urquidy, Jake Odorizzi, Luis Garcia, and Valdez in the rotation.

Probable Pitcher: 

Framber Valdez (0-0, 0.0 ERA) will take the mound in the opening day for the Astros. He had a record of 11-6 with an ERA of 3.14 and 125 strikeouts in 22 appearances in 2021. Valdez was 2-0 with an ERA of 3.00 and 12 strikeouts in 2 appearances against the Angels in 2021.

LOS ANGELES ANGELS

Los Angeles had a dissapointing season in 2021, they went 77-85 overall and 39-42 at home. The Angels slugged .407 with a .310 on-base percentage as a team in the 2021 season. Now the team will have back in the lineup the All-Star Mike Trout who hit .333 with 39 hits, 8 home runs, 18 RBIs and 23 runs scored in his short 2021 season. They also have the reigning MVP Ohtani who batted .257 with 138 hits, 46 home runs, 100 RBIs and 103 runs scored in 155 games in 2021.

Probable Pitcher:

Shohei Ohtani (0-0, 0-0 ERA) will be on the mound for the Angels in the opening day. Ohtani had a 9-2 record with an ERA of 3.18 and 156 strikeouts in 23 appearances in 2021. He had a 0-1 record with an ERA of 6.10 and 11 strikeouts in 2 appearances against the Astros in 2021.

BETTING TRENDS

Houston are 4-1 SU in their last 5 games against LA Angels.

The total has gone OVER in 6 of Houston's last 8 games on the road.

LA Angels are 5-11 SU in their last 16 games.

LA Angels are 2-10 SU in their last 12 games at home.

Prediction

The Astros are still strong contenders for the World Series and was the best team in runs scored last season. The Angels didn't have a good season but they should be motivated to have Mike Trout back in the lineup. This is a fresh start for everybody and the Angels will be at home and with Ohtani on the mound there isn't a better chance to record a win. Take the Angels.

PICK: Angels ML  (-132)

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