Oakland Athletics at Boston Red Sox Betting Preview

The Oakland Athletics are searching for wins, but it's been tough sledding so far. Through their last five games, the 21-41 Athletics have only won one. Before that win, the Athletics lost ten games in a row.

At this point, it's hard to see anything getting much better for the Athletics. However, there's still time for them to turn their season around, but it starts with a win today.

The Boston Red Sox are doing quite well this season with a record of 32-29. At the moment, the Red Sox ranks fourth in the AL East. They've won three of their last five games and are on their way to securing another.

They won their most recent series against the Seattle Mariners 2-1 and now return home to face Oakland. Let's look at each team and make our picks for today's game.

Oakland Athletics: Overall, the Athletics are in a bad spot

Usually, you can pinpoint where a team is really struggling. However, with Oakland, the entire team has issues at every level. In terms of batting, the Athletics rank 30th in Major League Baseball with a team average of .212.

When looking at their on-base percentage, the team has a .277 percentage, ranking 30th. Lastly, both runs and slugging percentage are near the bottom.

Pivoting to pitching, the Athletics will send out Jared Koenig today. Koenig has a record of 0-1 this season with an ERA of 9.00. This kind of pitching won't put the Athletics in a spot to win today's game.

He's only pitched four innings this season and already has one of the worst ERAs in MLB. Frankly, things aren't going well for the Athletics, and we don't see it getting any better.

Boston Red Sox: Pivetta takes the mound for the Red Sox

The starting pitcher for the Red Sox tonight is Nick Pivetta, who is 5-5 this season. Pivetta struggled early on in the year but has got it together recently.

He has an ERA of 3.78 over 66.2 innings and has 69 strikeouts. Pivetta is definitely one of the better pitchers for the Red Sox, and he has another chance to prove it. The good news is he's backed up by some strong batters.

When you take a look at what the Red Sox does best, batting immediately comes to mind. As a group, the Red Sox have a team batting average of .254, ranking fifth in MLB.

This season, they've scored 284 runs, sitting at eighth in the league. This means the Red Sox are better than the Athletics on every level. So, between these two teams, where should you place a wager?

Oakland Athletics vs. Boston Red Sox Betting Pick

For us, the choice here is easily the Boston Red Sox at home. They come in as heavy favorites at -225, but they're clearly the better team.

In Jared Koenig's last start, the game ended in a 13-2 loss for the Oakland Athletics. Sure, the team they played was the Atlanta Braves, but it's a good guide for us to use. 

The Red Sox are better at the plate and better on the mound than the Athletics. Pivetta has gone 2-1 as a starter over the course of his last three starts.

As a favorite, the Red Sox have an 18-13 record. We've got to take the Red Sox -255 and the over in this one.

DunkelIndex Free Betting Pick: Boston Red Sox -255, OVER

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