Oakland Athletics vs. Seattle Mariners Odds & Pick

Oakland Athletics (85-71) vs. Seattle Mariners (86-70)

When: 10:10 p.m., Monday, September 27

Where: T-Mobile Park, Seattle

Moneyline: OAK +105/SEA -115 (BetNow – Boost your bankroll with a 100% REAL CASH bonus on your first deposit of $100 to $1000! The best sportsbook bonus on the web!)

Runline: Athletics +1.5/Mariners -1.5

Total: 8.5

Starting Pitchers: Cole Irvin (10-14, 3.99 ERA, 1.31 WHIP) vs. Chris Flexen (13-6, 3.56 ERA, 1.24 WHIP)

One Last Shot

The schedule is set up perfectly for Seattle and Oakland to take their last chance at the playoffs, and they’ve got to go through each other and get some help out of the east. With Toronto and the Yankees playing each other, both the Athletics and Mariners will have a chance to gain the ground they need to get themselves into a tie for the wild card if they can get a little bit of help.
The ideal situation for both teams is to sweep the other one because they’ve got to catch at least one of the three AL East teams in a logjam ahead of them. The worry for both is that they want the Blue Jays to do well so they can gain ground on the Yankees, but not so well that Toronto puts the wild card out of reach by sweeping the Orioles in the final weekend. Getting some help from Tampa Bay, which faces AL West leader Houston, would also make a world of difference.

The pressure is definitely on for both teams, as one loss is probably going to knock the Athletics out and could be enough to finish off the Mariners. Oakland has to either gain three games on Boston or four on New York, so there’s a lot more pressure on the Athletics, especially with Houston waiting in the final series.

Zero for Four

Cole Irvin has mostly enjoyed his time in the American League after moving over from Philadelphia, but one of the things he definitely hasn’t enjoyed is sharing a division with the Mariners. For whatever reason, Seattle has had Irvin’s number no matter where the game is played.

For the year, Irvin is 0-4 against the Mariners, hasn’t made it into the sixth inning even once, and has given up at least three runs every time out. Interestingly enough, none of the four games saw a large number put up despite Irvin’s struggles, as the bullpen mostly held Seattle in check after Irvin left the game. In Irvin’s four starts, the teams have combined for just 25 runs, with nobody scoring more than five runs in a game. This makes Seattle in the first five innings a potentially strong play, as the Mariners have followed a defined formula of jumping on Irvin and letting the bullpen do the rest.

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What Home Cooking?

Earlier in the year, Chris Flexen was a strong home pitcher, and for the year, he still has an ERA that’s a run lower at T-Mobile Park than he does on the road. But strangely, things have flipped recently, and the Mariners have been having much more success on the road with Flexen on the mound than at home.
In Flexen’s past seven starts, the road team has won all seven, and while that hasn’t been the fault of the pitcher, it is an interesting thing to monitor. Part of this has been because Flexen has stepped up on the road, as he’s won five straight away from T-Mobile Park and the losses were to Houston (reasonable) and Arizona (not) at home. As long as he can get back to himself against the Athletics — and he’s won back-to-back starts against them — the Mariners should be fine.

Betting Trends

• The Mariners are 7-3 in their past ten games as a favorite.
• The Mariners are 7-1 in their past eight games overall.
• The Athletics are 1-4 in their past five games as a road underdog.
• The Athletics are 6-1 in their past seven games after a win.
• The over is 6-0 in the Mariners’ past six home games.
• The over is 7-2 in the Mariners’ past nine games as a favorite.
• The under is 4-0 in the Athletics’ past four Monday games.
• The under is 8-2-1 in the Athletics’ past 11 overall.
• The Mariners have won nine straight against the Athletics.
• The under is 6-1 in the past seven matchups.

Weather Report

With light rain in the forecast and temperatures dropping to 57 degrees, this looks like a game where the Mariners close the roof.

Dan’s Pick

Seattle badly wants to end the playoff drought, and they’ve dominated both Irvin and the Athletics for the second half of the season to give themselves a chance. The Mariners aren’t paying much juice to take them here, so I think backing them is a good call here given their 12-4 record against Oakland. Give me Seattle. Note: Be sure to check out our Week 3 MNF pick! (Eagles/Cowboys)