The Texas Rangers and Oakland Athletics have a scheduled doubleheader on Wednesday evening, stretching their series to a four-game set. The Rangers won the series' first game, a welcome sight for Rangers fans after dropping two of three to the Athletics at home earlier in the season. The Rangers are climbing back up the standings after a slow start, winning three in a row and seven of their last ten. The Athletics started even slower than the Rangers, and there wasn't much hope with all the off-the-field issues, but they've turned it around with seven wins in their last ten. It is time to continue our MLB odds series with a Rangers-Athletics Game 1 prediction, pick, and how-to-watch.

Michael Lorenzen deserved a lot more out of his last start, going six innings and allowing just four hits and one earned run. However, his bullpen instantly gave up six runs when Lorenzen exited the game, giving him the no-decision. Lorenzen has just four starts this season after recovering from a spring training injury, owning a 2-1 record and a 3.52 ERA. His only bad game was an 8-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds, allowing six hits and five earned runs in six innings.

JP Sears has been a big part of Oakland's turnaround. He had a poor start to the season, allowing nine earned runs and 12 hits in his first two starts. However, he buckled down after that, going three starts where he allowed just one earned run over 17 1/3 innings. Sears had a slight hiccup in his next start, allowing seven earned runs to the Orioles, but showed it may have been a blip on the radar by going 6 1/3 scoreless innings against the Marlins.

Here are the MLB Odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

MLB Odds: Rangers-Athletics Odds

Texas Rangers: -1.5 (+138)

Moneyline: -124

Oakland Athletics: +1.5 (-166)

Moneyline: +106

Over: 7.5 (-110)

Under: 7.5 (-110)

How to Watch Rangers vs. Athletics

Time: 3:37 PM ET/12:37 PM PT

TV: Bally Sports Network, NBC Sports California

Stream: fuboTV (Click for free trial)

Why The Rangers Will Cover The Spread/Win

Despite how the numbers may look, the Rangers have been the better offensive team over their last ten games. Oakland's stats are boosted by a 20-run game with the Marlins but other than that, they've been an average offensive team. Texas has been generating offense more consistently and has more talent down the lineup.

Why The Athletics Will Cover The Spread/Win

Apart from their pitching turnaround, the Athletics have also improved their offensive output. The Athletics hit .245 over their last ten games, averaging 5.4 runs/nine. These numbers are a little skewed, thanks to a game against the Marlins where they scored 20 runs.

The pitching is the major turnaround, as they won six straight games recently where they allowed just 14 runs. They've taken a step back by losing two consecutive games where they allowed 16 runs, but their bullpen numbers should return to normal.

Final Rangers-Athletics Prediction & Pick

The Athletics' recent run has garnered comparisons to the blockbuster baseball movie Major League when a neglecting owner tries to set their team up for failure to get them out of the city. The team then rallies around it to achieve greatness. They even have a hotshot closing pitcher in Mason Miller, who has a 1.26 ERA over 14 1/3 innings, much like “Wild Thing” Ricky Vaughn in the movie. 

The problem for the Athletics is that real life isn't always like the movies, and their roster doesn't have the talent to sustain this success for the entire season. This matchup isn't great for the Rangers due to JP Sears' success, but the Athletics' bullpen is starting to regress more to the mean. Lorenzen had some bad luck in his last start, but the Rangers will get him the win in this one.

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Final Rangers-Athletics Prediction & Pick: Rangers ML (-124)