The Oakland Athletics take on the New York Yankees. Our MLB odds series has our Athletics Yankees prediction and pick. Find out how to watch Athletics Yankees.

The New York Yankees are in a weird spot — not a bad one, but a weird one. They are 16-8 through 24 games. They lead the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East even though the O's are off to a strong start. The Yankees have one of the best records in baseball. They are doing this while Gerrit Cole, the reigning Cy Young Award winner in the American League, is out for an extended period of time with an injury. In many ways, the Yankees have exceeded expectations and are getting results that are better than what the condition of the roster suggests they should have achieved. That's a great place to be.

Yet, in another very real sense, the Yankees have reason to feel very worried about their long-term prospects. The Yankees' goal is to make the World Series. They haven't been there in 15 years. Not winning the American League pennant would be a notable and profound disappointment, just as it has been every year from 2010 through 2023. While the Yankees have won two-thirds of their games and look like a team that will definitely play in October this year, their ability to win multiple playoff series is in question. The reason is simple: If the top of the Yankee order — Anthony Volpe, Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo — doesn't hit, this team's offense becomes very ordinary very quickly. The No. 6 through 9 hitters in the order are struggling, which means that opposing pitchers don't have to go after the middle of the order if there's no one on base. The top of the order has to get on base so that the middle of the order will get hittable pitches. The Yankees have already been shut out four times this season. Tuesday night, they scored four runs in the first inning against the Oakland A's but then got shut out in the next seven innings. This team is struggling to score and might need to make a trade deadline deal this summer to get the hitting upgrade needed to finally return to the World Series.

Here are the Athletics-Yankees MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

MLB Odds: Athletics-Yankees Odds

Oakland Athletics: +1.5 (-118)

New York Yankees: -1.5 (-102)

Over: 8.5 (+100)

Under: 8.5 (-122)

How To Watch Athletics vs. Yankees

TV: NBC Sports California (Athletics) / YES (Yankees) / MLB Extra Innings

Stream: MLB.TV

Time: 7:05 p.m. ET/4:05 p.m. PT

*Watch Athletics-Yankees LIVE on fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Why The Athletics Could Cover The Spread

The A's have held the Yankee bats in check in the first two games of this series. Oakland pitchers have allowed a total of four runs to New York in 17 innings pitched. If that rate of success continues in this game, the A's are very likely to win. The Yankees are in a hitting rut, and there's no guarantee they'll come out of it immediately. They eventually will, but not in this series or this game.

Why The Yankees Could Cover The Spread

When a good team struggles to hit, it's just a matter of time before the bats finally come alive again. This will be that game for the Yankees.

Final Athletics-Yankees Prediction & Pick

The Yankees are going to win a multi-run game against the A's. It's hard to think they could fail to do so in three straight home games versus a bad opponent. Take New York.

Final Athletics-Yankees Prediction & Pick: Yankees -1.5