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The Chicago White Sox take on the Oakland Athletics. Our MLB odds series has our White Sox Athletics prediction and pick. Find out how to watch White Sox Athletics.
The Chicago White Sox lost two straight games to the Los Angeles Angels earlier this week. One of those losses was a 2-1 defeat in which Chicago ace Dylan Cease pitched extremely well. The other loss was a 4-2 setback in which the Sox had the bases loaded with no one out in the top of the ninth and could not get the third or fourth (let alone fifth) runs in. Those were two gut-punch losses for a team which was almost 15 games below .500. The White Sox, enduring yet another miserable season, could have folded the tent in the middle of a long West Coast road trip and allowed themselves to get deflated. Instead, they fought back. They scored 11 runs on Wednesday in a blowout over the Angels. Then they scored nine runs on Thursday in a slugfest win over the Halos. They split the four-game series on the road in Anaheim. Now they make the short hop to Oakland with a chance to stack some wins. Given that no American League Central team is even at .500 entering play on Friday evening, the White Sox still have a legitimate chance to win their division. If they can sweep Oakland, they will significantly improve their odds one week before the All-Star break. This is a very important moment in the White Sox' season.
Here are the White Sox-Athletics MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB Odds: White Sox-Athletics Odds
Chicago White Sox: -1.5 (-104)
Oakland Athletics: +1.5 (-115)
Over: 9 (-104)
Under: 9 (-118)
How To Watch White Sox vs. Athletics
TV: NBC Sports Chicago (White Sox) / Bally Sports California (Athletics) / MLB Extra Innings
Stream: MLB.tv
Time: 9:40 p.m. ET/6:40 p.m. PT
*Watch White Sox-Athletics LIVE on fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why The White Sox Could Cover The Spread
The White Sox have come alive at the plate in recent games, scoring a grand total of 20 runs in their last two games combined. The Sox usually get decent pitching, at least from Dylan Cease and Michael Kopech, sometimes from their other starters, but the hitting has usually lagged behind the pitching. If the hitting can start to come alive — as it has these past few days — the White Sox will begin to look a lot more like the 2021 team which ran away with the American League Central championship. Even though the White Sox are starting unproven Tanner Banks in this game, they know that if they can keep mashing, they're gonna win.
Oakland starter Luis Medina has been roughed up in several of his starts. The White Sox should certainly be able to get to him and to the weak Oakland bullpen, which is one of the worst in baseball.
Why The Athletics Could Cover The Spread
The White Sox are just not a good team, and with Tanner Banks — who has thrown a total of just 18 innings this season — on the hill, the A's have a pitcher they can rough up. Oakland won't have the advantage in many pitching matchups over the course of a season, but this can reasonably be viewed as one of them. A totally unproven Chicago pitcher is exactly the kind of starter the A's want to see on the mound.
Final White Sox-Athletics Prediction & Pick
If you think you know who will win a Tanner Banks-Luis Medina pitching matchup, go ahead. If you can nail pitching matchups such as this one, you're probably already making bank with sports betting. The rest of us are going to pass on this one.
Final White Sox-Athletics Prediction & Pick: White Sox -1.5
