The Minnesota Twins are on the road to take on the Atlanta Braves for the first game of a three game set on Monday night. Check out our MLB odds series as we hand out a Twins-Braves prediction and pick while letting you know how to watch the game, as well.

The American League Central division has been horrible this year, but the Twins are at the top of it. Minnesota is 40-39 and two games ahead of the Cleveland Guardians. The Twins are .500 in their last 10 games, but are coming off a win Sunday afternoon to cap a three game series win over the Detroit Tigers. In the last week, Minnesota is hitting .256 as a team. Royce Lewis is 11-24 with two home runs in six games during that span. Carlos Correa has two home runs, as well. Max Kepler and Byron Buxton have gone deep three times. As a team, the Twins have 13 home runs in their last seven games. On the mound, the Twins have been fine in their last seven games. They have a 4.08 ERA, 1.27 WHIP in that span with a 10.5 K/9.

The Braves are sitting comfortably in first place in the NL East division heading into this game. They have a six game lead over the Miami Marlins. Atlanta is 9-1 in their last 10 games and have won seven straight series. They have played five games in the last seven days. In that span, the Braves are batting .289 with 13 home runs and 33 runs scored. Matt Olson has five of those home runs while Ronald Acuna Jr. paces the team with nine hits in his last five games. On the mound, the Braves have a 5.00 ERA with a 1.40 WHIP in their last five games, so that could defninitely improve. However, they do have a 10.8 K/9.

Sonny Gray and Spencer Strider will take the mound in this game.

Here are the Twins-Braves MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

MLB Odds: Twins-Braves Odds

Minnesota Twins: +1.5 (-118)

Atlanta Braves: -1.5 (-102)

Over: 8 (-115)

Under: 8 (-105)

How To Watch Twins vs. Braves

TV: Bally Sports North, Bally Sports Southeast

Stream: MLB TV Subscription

Time: 7:20 PM ET/4:20 PM PT

*Watch MLB games LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Why The Twins Could Cover The Spread

Sonny Gray needs to match whatever Strider does out there in this game. Gray is a great pitcher, but it is unlikely that he will receive any run support in this game. This means it will be up to him to win. Luckily, Gray has been pitching well this season. He has cooled off a little bit, but he has the potential and arm talent to shut a team down. He is in for a hard game against a very solid Atlanta team, but it Gray can pitch well, the Twins should cover the spread.

Gray has an ERA below three and a .238 oBA. His numbers are good. The Twins just need to score three or four runs to give him a little but of support. Scoring that many runs will be tough to do for Minnesota, but it is what needs to happen for them to keep this game close. If Minnesota can do that, they will cover this spread, or even win the game.

Why The Braves Could Cover The Spread

Strider saw his ERA get inflated because of two bad starts this month, but he is still one of the best pitchers in baseball. He is the MLB leader in K/9 and has struck out at least eight in 12 of his 15 starts this season. The Twins are leading the league in strikeouts with 807 total. That number is 60 more than the next highest team and equates to more than 10 strikeouts per game played for Minnesota. Strider has a great chance to rack up the strikeouts in this game, and if he does that, the Braves will cover this spread.

The Twins are also bottom-10 in batting average. Spencer Strider allows opponents to hit just .213 off him this season, so this is super tough matchup for the Minnesota hitters. As long as Strider pitches his game and keeps hitters off his fastball, the Braves will win this game and cover the spread while doing so.

Final Twins-Braves Prediction & Pick

The Braves are 13-2 when Strider starts and they are playing very good baseball right now. The Twins do have one of their better pitchers on the mound in this one, but they do not give him a lot of run support. I expect Atlanta to roll through this game with their ace on the mound.

Final Twins-Braves Prediction & Pick: Braves -1.5 (-102), Under 8 (-105)