The Giants are right in the fight for a National League playoff spot while the Angels are in danger of falling out of the American League playoff picture, heading into the opener of this three-game inter-league series in Anaheim Monday night. Lefty Patrick Sandoval hopes to keep LA alive here against Logan Webb for San Francisco.

Which way are we going with our free Giants/Angels bettng pick?

MLB Betting Odds

Monday’s baseball betting market opened San Francisco and Webb at around -120 over Los Angeles and Sandoval, with an over/under of eight runs. Both figures were holding steady in the early betting action.

Giants-Angels Betting Preview

San Francisco just got swept two games at Oakland over the weekend, losing Sunday’s series finale 8-6. But just before that the Giants took three of four games from Arizona and just before that they took two of three from Boston.

Going back a bit further San Francisco is 3-1 over its last four series and 7-4 over its last 11 games.

At 61-51 overall the Giants are tied with Philadelphia for the top two spots in the NL wild-card race.

Los Angeles, meanwhile, just got swept four games at home by Seattle, losing Sunday’s series finale 3-2 in 10 innings. Just before that the Angels lost the last two games of a series in Atlanta. So Los Angeles lugs a six-game losing skid into Monday night.

At 56-57 overall the Angels now trail Toronto by seven games in the battle for the third and final AL wild-card spot.

This series is the first meeting between these teams since 2021.

Monday's Pitching Match-Up

Sandoval is only one for his last six on quality starts this season but going pretty good lately. Last Tuesday he limited that very good Braves line-up to two runs and three hits through five innings, although he also walked four, in a 5-1 Los Angeles loss. And over his last four starts he’s allowed just seven runs - only four earned - and 11 hits through 22 1/3 innings, with 13 walks, which is too many, against 19 strikeouts.

The Angels are only 7-12 with Sandoval this season but that might be as many as three games worse than they should be, based on his game-by-game performance.

In his only career start against San Francisco, back in 2020, Sandoval gave up five runs in four innings of a 7-2 Los Angeles defeat.

Webb is five for his last six on quality starts. Last Wednesday he held the Diamondbacks to two runs and four hits through seven innings of a 4-2 Giants victory. And five times over his last six starts he’s held foes to three runs or less while going at least 6 2/3 innings.

San Francisco is only 11-12 with Webb this season but 14-9 or 15-8 would probably be closer to the truth.

This will be Webb’s first career start against the Angels.

Splits With the Sticks

San Francisco is batting .244 against left-handed pitching this season, with a .304 team OBP and a .369 team slugging percentage. Numbers like those lead us to rank this line-up among the bottom half-dozen in Baseball in this split.

Los Angeles is slashing .252/.327/.445 against right-handed pitching. But this line-up is still operating without big stick Mike Trout.

The Bullpens

The Angels bullpen owns a 4.19 ERA this season, along with a 1.41 WHIP and a 2.14 K/BB ratio.

The Giants pen owns a 3.59 ERA, a 1.21 WHIP and a 3.11 K/BB ratio. Numbers like those lead us to rank this unit among the top three or four bullpens in Baseball.

MLB Betting Trends

• San Francisco 28-27 on the road this season and 18-12 against left-handed starters.
• Los Angeles is 29-27 at home and 45-39 against right-handed starters.
• Los Angeles is 10-15 since losing Trout to injury.

Totals Report

• The unders are 63-46 in Giants games this season.
• The unders are 54-52 in Angels games.
• The unders are 30-24 at Angel Stadium this season.