This is a 1*Free Play on the Oakland Athletics.

In my opinion the Athletics price tag is well worth it in this situation. The visiting Tampa Bay Rays will send Alex Cobb (7-6, 3.54 ERA) to the hill. The right-hander is coming off a dominant performance over Milwaukee where he earned the win by allowing one run over eight innings. Cobb is 3-2 with 2.34 ERA lifetime versus the Athletics. Oakland will turn to starter Jeff Samardija (4-8, 2.92 ERA) who is coming off a forgettable start against Houston where gave up four runs in just under seven innings of work; I expect a bounce back from Samardija today though who has pitched pretty well since coming over in the trade. Note that Oakland has won five of six in the series, including two of three on the road in May. The Rays have lost three of four and I think the morale is down quite a bit in the locker room after their best pitcher was traded at the deadline. The Athletics meanwhile are surging the other way as their team got stronger at the deadline and are now arguably the team to beat in the AL. While the pitching matchup is pretty even, the Athletics have home field where they are 35-19 this season. Oakland is just the better team and I think it's a fair price to pay to get the win.

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