MLB Baseball BETTING PREVIEW - Athletics @ Texas Rangers

MLB Baseball

2026-09-02 - Athletics at Texas Rangers

A Sports Betting Preview by FirstDown

Athletics @ Texas Rangers
United States : Major League Baseball
Wednesday 2nd September 2026 - Scheduled 2:35pm EST
7:35pm (British Time)

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Preview

A three game winning run is doing enough for the Texas Rangers (69-70) to stay on the heels of the American League West leading Houston Astros, while they are also 1.5 games out of the Wild Card positions. Winning the Division still looks the most realistic pathway into the Playoffs and the Rangers are going for a three game sweep of a slumping rival.

The rest of this week is going to be focusing on a very tough series with the current American League East leaders and so it is important for the Texas Rangers to keep the winning run going.

Facing the Athletics (53-86) who have lost five in a row looks a good chance to extend the Texas winning run, but they will have respect for the current levels being produced by Jacob Lopez, who will be starting for the road team.

Jacob Lopez has a 5-4 record and 4.82 ERA in his twenty-two appearances in 2026 and nineteen have been made in starts. He has pitched against the Rangers twice this season and given up four runs in 11 Innings, although Lopez has not factored into the decision either time.

The pitcher has started the last nine times he has headed to the mound and only one of those can be considered as an opener when withdrawn in the 2nd Inning of the first of those nine starts. Jacob Lopez has a 1-1 record in that run and a 2.18 ERA, while he has thrown 29 Innings in August and allowed eight runs as Lopez has chewed through the opposition batting lineup.

This will be a test for the Athletics starter considering Texas have scored eight runs in both wins this week, while the Rangers will be looking for Cody Bradford to keep them in this game even if Jacob Lopez is pitching another quality start.

Cody Bradford has a 0-3 record and 3.42 ERA in his five starts made having not pitched in the Major League since 2024 before returning to the rotation last month. He has thrown almost 10 Innings in his two starts in this ballpark and Bradford has allowed two runs, while the last of those saw him pitch into the 6th Inning and take the hard luck loss to the Los Angeles Angels.

While he did not factor into the decision, Cody Bradford allowed two runs in 4 Innings on the road against the Athletics on August 16th when starting opposite Jacob Lopez.

The regular season series will be decided between these teams on Wednesday having split twelve games evenly already.

Prediction

The consistency shown by Jacob Lopez makes the Athletics dangerous, but Cody Bradford is pitching well enough to give this Texas Rangers batting lineup the time to get on top of this game.

Sixteen runs have been scored in two games and a streaky Rangers team may do just enough to edge to the victory to complete the sweep and remain firmly on the coattails of the Houston Astros within this American League West Division.

The Pick :

Texas Rangers 4-3 Athletics

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Texas Rangers to Win at -157 with BetOnline