A fierce AL West battle will be in the works when the Oakland Athletics make a trip to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Seattle Mariners. Join us for our MLB odds series where our Athletics-Mariners prediction and pick will be revealed.

Entering play with an 18-21 record, the Athletics sit in third-place within the AL West standings and are only 4 games behind the Texas Rangers for the top spot. Nonetheless, Oakland is seeking to get back on track as they have gone down in defeat in four of their last five games. In line for the start will be Paul Blackburn who has endured a productive start to the year with a 3-1 record and 3.00 earned-run average.

Meanwhile, Seattle pitcher Bryan Woo is scheduled to start in first game of the season following a lengthy stint on the IL. A year ago, Woo compiled a 4-5 record with a 4.21 earned-run average in 18 starts. The Mariners recently lost three of four games to the Minnesota Twins including being on the wrong side of an 11-1 blowout last time out. With a 20-18 overall record, it is Seattle that currently sits 1.5 games behind the Texas Rangers for first place.

Here are the MLB Odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

MLB Odds: Athletics-Mariners Odds

Oakland Athletics: +1.5 (-192)

Moneyline: +110

Seattle Mariners: -1.5 (+158)

Moneyline: -130

Over: 7.5 (-105)

Under: 7.5 (-115)

How to Watch Athletics vs. Mariners

Time: 9:40 ET/6:40 PT

TV: MLB.TV

Stream: fuboTV (Click for free trial)

Why The Athletics Will Cover The Spread/Win

Don't look now, but could the Athletics actually be improving? After several seasons serving as one of the worst teams in all of baseball, Oakland has somewhat silenced all of the off the field talk in regards to relocating to Las Vegas by storming out to an 18-21 record.

Obviously, the A's main goal is to have a winning record, but considering that they lost an unfathomable 112 games a year ago, it is hard not to take notice of their improvement. Nonetheless, it is still extremely early in the season and Oakland will have to continue showing off their development.

All in all, the biggest element of this game that Oakland needs to take advantage of falls in the form of an increased production from the pitching rubber. At first glance, the Athletics hold a team ERA of 4.10 ERA which is only ranks as the 20th-best number in baseball.

Often times, Oakland is plagued by rough starts from the pitching mound and that cannot continue to be the case against a Mariners squad that despite lackluster hitting statistics can hit the baseball from time to time. Ultimately, bettors siding with the A's should keep their eyes peeled on Paul Blackburn, who does happen to be off to a fairly good start to the season and is also one of the Athletics' top starting arms.

Why The Mariners Will Cover The Spread/Win

For Seattle, there is no doubt that everyone in that clubhouse wants to rid themselves of their recent losing ways in dire fashion. Indeed, it begins with possessing more plate discipline than what they have shown as a whole all year long.

In fact, no team in Major League Baseball has struck out as much as this Mariners squad. Seattle has been punched out on 384 different occasions and are also having difficulties in falling behind counts. At the end of the day, if Seattle cannot constantly make contact with the bats and don't put pressure on Oakland's defense by hitting the ball in play, then the offense will once again be stagnant.

Fortunately, the Mariners have made up for their lack of offense in the form of some stellar defense and premier pitching. In reality, the M's boast a 73% defensive efficiency which is the second-best percentage in baseball. In addition, Seattle also is equipped with the most quality starts along with the top WHIP and batting average against.

When Seattle is in the field, they automatically become extremely reliable and don't often fall victim to failure. Above all else, if this AL West matchup ends up being a low-scoring affair in the later stages of the ballgame, then the Mariners should hold an advantage thanks to their pitching prowess and their phenomenal ability to flash the leather.

Final Athletics-Mariners Prediction & Pick

Whenever these two bitter rivals get together for play, a feeling of intensity shortly follows. With both teams separated by only 2.5 games in the division standings, these few games could be extremely important in the early going of this regular season.

In general, the safe pick here is with the A's and Paul Blackburn finding a way to cover the +1.5 run spread as underdogs.

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Final Athletics-Mariners Prediction & Pick: Athletics +1.5 (-192)