The Astros make the trip to Oakland to face the Athletics! The Astros are having consistency issues this season, but the Athletics have been one of the worst teams in the MLB this season. Our MLB odds series has our Athletics-Astros prediction, odds, and pick for Friday.

The Astros have opened this season struggling. They have a 17-25 record and they have won five out of their last six games and have won three straight heading into this game. Despite their struggles, their offense has been nothing short of great with the second batting average as a team in the league behind only the Dodgers. Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker, Jeremy Pena, Yainer Diaz, and Yordan Alvarez have been great for Houston behind the plate. The issue is all on the mound where they have struggled across the board. Ronel Blanco, Framber Valdez, and Justin Verlander have stood out on a struggling staff. The Astros have talent and seem like they might finally be putting it together, slowly but surely.

The Athletics have struggled this season and have been inconsistent on their way to a 19-25 record. They have lost five of their last six games and three straight leading into this game. The Athletics have struggled behind the plate and their pitching has not been much better. JJ Bleday, Abraham Toro, Shea Langeliers, and Brent Rooker have been able to stand out on a struggling offense. On the mound, Paul Blackburn and JP Sears have been decent for the Athletics despite the staff struggling. The Athletics are not the disaster they were last season, but they have not been able to find any inconsistency and have still struggled overall.

Here are the MLB Odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

MLB Odds: Astros-Athletics Odds

Houston Astros: -1.5 (+102)

Moneyline: -164

Oakland Athletics: +1.5 (-122)

Moneyline: +138

Over: 8.5 (+100)

Under: 8.5 (-122)

How to Watch Astros vs. Athletics

Time: 9:40 pm ET

TV: Space City Home Network / NBC Sports California

Stream: fuboTV (Click for free trial)

Why The Astros Will Cover The Spread/Win

The Astros are starting Justin Verlander on the mound. He has a 2-2 record, a 3.97 ERA, and a 1.21 WHIP. Verlander has allowed 15 runs on 27 hits with 14 walks and 26 strikeouts through 36 innings up to this point in the season. In his six starts for Houston this season, the Astros are 2-4. In his last start, he pitched 4.2 innings and allowed four runs on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts in an Astros loss. Verlander has been a bright spot for a struggling pitching staff and he gets a favorable matchup against Ross Stripling on the mound.

The offense for the Astros has been one of the best in the MLB so far this season. They are first in batting average at .264 after they finished last season at .259 batting average. Jeremy Pena and Kyle Tucker lead the Astros in almost every important batting category. Pena leads the way in the current batting average at .326 and in total hits at 63. Tucker then leads the way in home runs at 17, in RBI at 36, and in OBP at .422. This offense has had to carry them this season, but they get a favorable matchup against the Athletics because of all their struggles. Stripling is a favorable matchup for the Astros behind the plate.

Why The Athletics Will Cover The Spread/Win

The Athletics are starting Ross Stripling on the mound and he has a 1-8 record, a 5.19 ERA, and a 1.56 WHIP. He has allowed 38 runs on 69 hits with 12 walks and 32 strikeouts through 52 innings. In his last start, he pitched five innings and gave up nine runs on nine hits with zero walks and two strikeouts in an Athletics loss. Stripling has struggled this season and this is a tough matchup against an offense that has been as good as the Astros have been so far this season.

The offense for the Athletics has been one of the worst in the MLB this season. They are 28th in the MLB in team batting average at .219 after having a team batting average of .223 last season which was worst in the league. Abraham Toro and Brent Rooker lead the way for the team in most batting categories. Rooker leads the way in batting average at .294, in home runs at 11, RBI at 32, and in OBP at .365. Abraham Toro then leads the way in total hits at 50. This is a difficult matchup for the Athletics behind the plate because Justin Verlander has been very good for the Astros on the mound.

Final Astros-Athletics Prediction & Pick

The Astros are figuring things out and the Athletics have struggled all year. The Astros have the best offense in the MLB and they have a good matchup against Ross Stripling. Verlander has also been very good on the mound and gets a good matchup against a struggling Athletics offense behind the plate.

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Final Astros-Athletics Prediction & Pick: Astros -1.5 (+102)