The Cleveland Guardians host the Oakland Athletics for the first of a four-game series! It's time to continue our MLB odds series with an Athletics-Guardians prediction and pick.
The Oakland Athletics own the second-worst record in baseball at (20-38) and have played six more games than the Cleveland Guardians have. Cleveland is (26-26) on the season and is second in the AL Central Division behind the Minnesota Twins. They are just one game ahead of the Chicago White Sox. The A's are just looking to get back in the win column as they have lost eight in a row. As for the Guardians, they are already in Wild Card contention, however, a few more wins would get them close to the surging Boston Red Sox.
Here are the Athletics-Guardians MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB Odds: Athletics-Guardians Odds
Oakland Athletics: +1.5 (-134)
Cleveland Guardians: -1.5 (+112)
Over: 9 (+100)
Under: 9 (-122)
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Why The Athletics Could Cover The Spread
The A's are really going through it right now. It's clear they are in rebuild mode as they traded away all their top players. It's going to take a lot of effort for them to compete and even that won't do them justice this season. Oakland will likely finish with a bottom three record in the MLB this season unless this is 2002 all over again.
On the mound for the A's is right-hander James Kaprielian who is (0-3) with a 6.06 ERA in 32.2 innings pitched. The 28-year-old is struggling this season and hasn't allowed less than four runs since May 17. He must turn things around if he wants to see success against a solid Guardians lineup … featuring slugger Jose Ramirez.
No starter in the Athletics lineup is batting over .268. That is atrocious as a majority of the lineup is batting under .223. Catcher Sean Murphy is a rising star in this league and it was smart of the organization to hold onto him. He is playing decent this season hitting just .202 with five homers and 23 RBIs. The issue is he leads the team in strikeouts and he just isn't getting any production from anyone other than Elvis Andrus and Tony Kemp.
Why The Guardians Could Cover The Spread
On the mound for the Guardians is right-hander Konner Pilkington who is off to a fine start this season. In just three starts this season, he's allowed only five runs and did not allow a run in his last outing. He earned the first win of his carer against the Kansas City Royals (who own the worst record in baseball). It's nice that he has back-to-back outings against the two worst teams in baseball. His ERA is 2.65 in 17 innings this season and his home ERA is at 1.54 with 17 K's in 11 innings pitched.
The Guardians should be looking forward to this series. Four games this series and they likely will win three of them and try and build off their winning record. A sweep is also likely. One player who will show out is star Jose Ramirez. He's hitting .285 with 14 home runs and 54 RBIs. His 54 RBIs are tied with Pete Alonso for the most in the MLB. He has 10 more than the next AL hitter Aaron Judge.
After hot starts this season, Owen Miller and Steven Kwan have slowed down tremendously. They both are hitting under .265 on the year after they hit over .400 in the first month of the season. If those two can get back to their early-season groove then this team will be tough to beat.
Final Athletics-Guardians Prediction & Pick
Oakland is (27-31) against the spread while the Guardians are (28-24). I think the Guardians find a way to win this game as they are the better team right now and the A's can't buy a win.
Final Athletics-Guardians Prediction & Pick: Guardians -1.5 (+112)
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