The Texas Rangers host the Los Angeles Angels for the second of a four-game series.
The pregame narrative: The Angels won last night and look to jump out to a two-game series lead behind Jose Soriano (3.72 ERA). Texas counters with its ace, Nathan Eovaldi (1.75 ERA), who’s shaping back into form after missing time with an injury.
Check out my Rangers vs. Angels predictions, including prop picks on Mike Trout and Evan Carter.
Rangers vs. Angels predictions
Parlay: Under 9.5 runs | Trout over 0.5 hits | Carter over 0.5 hits (+320)
Under 9.5 runs (-205): This should be a pitching duel between two strong starting pitchers.
Soriano has given up one or fewer runs in four of his last five starts. He did get shelled for eight in the outlier, but I can look past that with how good he was in the other games.
Overall, with that outing included, he still owns a 2.84 ERA (1.98 FIP) over those five starts. He also struck out 38 batters in the 31.2 innings pitched.
For the Rangers, Eovaldi would be in the Cy Young conversation if he didn’t miss a month recovering from an injury.
His first start back was rough, allowing three earned runs in 3.0 IP against the Seattle Mariners. But he bounced back with five innings of scoreless baseball against the Baltimore Orioles in his last start. He only gave up two hits in that outing.
For the season, Eovaldi has only given up three or more runs two times. He’s started 14 games, so that’s a very reliable floor to work with.
If one of these pitchers has a quality start, it should be good enough to keep the game under this total, barring a one-sided offensive outburst.
MLB SGP legs
Trout over 0.5 hits (-235): Trout is swinging a hot bat right now, and I want to take advantage, no matter who’s pitching to him.
- He has a hit in 10 of the last 11 games that he started.
- He’s batting .278 over that span, which is over 40 points higher than his season average (.233).
Trout has no multi-hit games in that time, but he’s been consistently grabbing a hit, and that’s what’s needed for this wager.
Plus, the veteran outfielder has a .292 average against Eovaldi in 28 plate appearances.
Carter over 0.5 hits (-157): Carter went hitless in back-to-back games, but check out his stats from the nine games before:
- .343 average
- 9-0 against this wager
The speedy outfielder only had six at-bats in the past two games. He was a pinch hitter in yesterday’s contest, so he still has a hit in nine of his past 10 starts.
Carter will also have the platoon advantage. He bats .275 against righties and only .200 against lefties this season.
Rangers vs. Angels predictions made at 9:41 a.m. ET on 07/08/2025.
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Spencer is a true sports junkie. A graduate of the Sports Journalism program at Centennial College, he first joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2023. He is now a contributing writer. He loves finding the edge to bet on in all sports but has a deep passion for the NBA and UFC. Previous stops include Sportsnet.