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The Arizona Diamondbacks take on the Oakland Athletics. Our MLB odds series has our Diamondbacks Athletics prediction and pick. Find out how to watch Diamondbacks Athletics.
The Arizona Diamondbacks went into Oakland on Monday night and took care of business, taking an early lead and cruising to a comfortable win on the road. It's the kind of game the Diamondbacks needed to play after winning their weekend series against the San Francisco Giants. The Diamondbacks have to be able to put the hammer down against bad teams if they want to accumulate enough wins to stay in the National League wild card race for the entirety of the season. The Diamondbacks will have to play the better teams in Major League Baseball later in the season. They can't expect to do overly well in those games. They will probably be .500 at best, probably a few games under the break-even mark, when they play top teams. They have to load up against the bottom tier of MLB clubs if they want to win something in the range of 88 to 90 games and be in the playoff conversation in late September.
It is true that teams need to win series to become playoff teams, but against the woefully bad A's, the worst team in baseball, the Diamondbacks need to be able to sweep, not merely win two of three.
Here are the Diamondbacks-Athletics MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB Odds: Diamondbacks-Athletics Odds
Arizona Diamondbacks: -1.5 (+104)
Oakland Athletics: +1.5 (-125)
Over: 9.5 (+100)
Under: 9.5 (-122)
How To Watch Diamondbacks vs. Athletics
TV: Bally Sports Arizona (Diamondbacks) / NBC Sports California (Athletics) / MLB Extra Innings
Stream: MLB.tv
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Time: 9:40 p.m. ET/6:40 p.m. PT
*Watch Diamondbacks-Athletics LIVE on fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why The Diamondbacks Could Cover The Spread
The Diamondbacks have won four out of five games, but more than that, they are going against a terrible Oakland team which consists of very few really talented players. The majority of the Oakland batting order is of borderline major-league quality. The A's have a few bright lights in their lineup, but they don't have a batting order which can consistently threaten competent pitching, which is what the Diamondbacks have. Even if Arizona's inconsistent offense doesn't have an especially good game, Arizona can still limit Oakland's output and claim a 4-2 decision to cover on the run line. That's close to what we saw on Monday, when the D-Backs got a few early big hits, didn't score much over the last six innings, but were never really threatened.
Why The Athletics Could Cover The Spread
The Diamondbacks do have good pitching, but in games when either Zac Gallen or Merrill Kelly, their top two starting pitchers, are not on the mound, they are comparatively more vulnerable. The A's won't put up big numbers in most games, but they will do so occasionally, as we saw in last Friday's wild 9-7 win over the Texas Rangers in one of the more improbable comebacks of the whole 2023 season. Oakland can get to Arizona's pitching and cover the spread.
Final Diamondbacks-Athletics Prediction & Pick
The Oakland A's are a very bad team, and betting against them on the run line has been consistently profitable this year. Why stop now? Take the D-Backs and trust that what usually happens will happen again. Betting is so much about looking for reliable bets. Betting against the A's has been one of the best bets you can make.
Final Diamondbacks-Athletics Prediction & Pick: Diamondbacks -1.5
