Athletics and Astros in Two Team Race for American League West Crown

Many divisions in Major League Baseball are still wide open as we begin to near the halfway point of the season. Take for example the American League East, which has four of the five teams with a winning record, or the National League East which has all five teams within seven games of each other.

That certainly isn’t the case in the American League West, which has turned into a two-team race between the Oakland Athletics and the Houston Astros.

WynnBET has odds listed to win the division, and the Athletics have a slight edge on the Astros. Oakland is currently listed as the -120 favorite (bet $120 to profit $100), with Houston slightly behind them at -116 (bet $116 to profit $100).

The Athletics have a two-game lead on the Astros, but they’re 3-7 in their ten meetings so far this season.

Oakland broke a three-year streak in 2020 that saw Houston crowned as division champs from 2017-2019, but the A's ended up falling to the Astros anyway, losing to them in the ALDS in four games.

Ironically, the two teams have the exact same team ERA at this point of the season at 3.82, good for a tie in 11th in the Majors.

Surprisingly, given their record, Houston has the best offense in baseball, averaging 5.51 runs per game. Oakland ranks 14th in this stat, averaging 4.42 runs per game.

Given that the Athletics have the division lead right now despite having worse offensive numbers, expect the Astros to make a push to retake the AL West lead sooner rather than later. Now is a good time to take the -116 odds on Houston being crowned division champs for the fourth time in five years.

The two teams will meet again for a three-game series beginning on July 6th.