The Rangers have been one of the most profitable teams in baseball to start the 2019 season and send Mike Minor to the mound to try to keep their solid start going against the Athletics on Monday.

Despite registering just 7.2 strikeouts per nine innings, Minor has kept hitters off guard, surrendering 18 hits in four starts. It has also allowed him to go an average of just under seven innings per start to start the season.

The baseball also travels a little bit differently during the night time than during the day. With Minor’s ground-ball rate from the start of the 2018 season through the past year plus being 47th among qualified pitchers, the marine layer should help keep some of those balls in the yard.

He is backed up by a lineup that has three guys at the top of it batting above .300. They will be seeing Chris Bassitt, who will be making his season debut after making seven starts and 11 appearances overall during the 2018 season. Aside from his first start of the 2018 season against the Royals, he did not pitch more than six innings in any appearance last season.

With an A’s bullpen that entering Sunday racked up the most innings of any relief staff in the majors and had position player Kendrys Morales pitch Saturday due to a bad start by Mike Fiers and general overuse, it points to the Rangers being in line for success.

The Play: Rangers, +115.