Seattle Mariners vs Oakland Athletics Prediction, Odds, Preview 08/23/2021

Game Time: 9:40 pm ET, Monday, August 23rd, 2021

Venue:  Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, California

Where to Watch:  ROOTNW, NBCSCA

Mariners: 66-58 (3rd place, American League West)
Athletics:  70-54 (2nd place, AL West)

DraftKings:  Moneyline odds:  Seattle +115, A’s -135; Over/Under:  8.5 runs

Mariners:  Diego Castillo (shoulder) Out, Kyle Lewis (knee) Out
Athletics:  Chris Bassitt (face) Out, Mike Fiers, Out, Stephen Piscotty (wrist) Out

Mariners:

J. Crawford, SS
M. Haniger, RF
T. France, 1B
K. Seager, 3B
A. Toro, 2B
L. Torrens, DH
T. Murphy, C
J. Kelenic, CF
D. Moore, LF
T. Anderson, SP

Athletics:

M. Canha, LF
S. Marte, CF
M. Olson, 1B
J. Lowrie, DH
J. Harrison, SS
M. Chapman, 3B
S. Brown, RF
Y. Gomes, C
T. Kemp, 2B
F. Montas, SP

Mariners:

Batting Average:  Ty France (.291)

Hits:  Ty France (124)

Home Runs:  Kyle Seager (28)

RBI:  Kyle Seager (79)

Stolen Bases:  Dylan Moore  (18)

Wins:  Chris Flexen (10)

Saves:  Kendall Graveman (10)

ERA:  Chris Flexen (3.64)

Athletics:

Batting Average:  Matt Olson (.276)

Hits: Matt Olson (118)

Home Runs:  Matt Olson (31)

RBI:  Matt Olson (81)  *It's the Matt Olson show!

Stolen Bases: Ramon Laureno (12)

Wins: Chris Bassitt (12)

Saves:  Lou Tirvino (21)

ERA:  Chris Bassitt (3.22)

Mariners: Scott Servais
Athletics:  Bob Melvin

The Mariners are 7-3 over their last ten games logging 5 Overs and 5 Unders.  They went 0-2 against the Houston Astros, swept the Texas Rangers 3-0, went 2-1 against the Toronto Blue Jays, took two from the  Texas Rangers again 2-0.  Thank Goodness for the terribleness of the Texas Rangers because over that span the Mariners were batting a league low .221, and next to last OBP of .298.  Without that extra three-game series against Texas the standings wouldn’t be this close.

The Athletics are 4-6 over their last ten games.  Logging 5 Overs, 3 Unders and 2 Pushes. Doing whatever they can to let the Mariners back in.  Somewhere Brad Pitt is casually eating something before tossing a cooler at one of the Giambi brothers.  They went 1-1 against the San Francisco Giants (Sunday results not in), went 1-3 against the Chicago White Sox in a four-game series, 1-2 against the Texas Rangers (?!), and took one 1-0 from the Cleveland Indians.  They have looked worse than their record because good teams do not give away 2 games to the Texas Rangers… it just isn’t supposed to happen.  These guys are going to force me to make a Mariners prediction that favors the Mariners!... yuck.  Over this ten game span the Athletics have also batted poorly .235 for 24th in league.

The Seattle Mariners are 30th in team batting average .221, 22nd in runs scored 517, and 10th in home runs 155.  Batting is a struggle.  They are still pros… but offense isn’t their strong suit.  They would need some luck.. Like if the opponent put up an inexperienced guy who has only pitched 5 innings this year.  A sample size so small the + 5.00 ERA isn’t even accurate one way or the other… but where are they gonna find a team like that?

The Mariners pitchers are 18th in ERA 4.42, 21st in strikeouts 1018, and 13th best in runs given up by a pitcher. The pitching isn’t great… it isn’t Yankees level, certainly not Los Angeles Dodgers level.  But it is average enough to keep this team in the winning column.

The Athletics are 23rd in team batting average .236, tied for 14th in runs scored 560 (just behind the Angels), tied for 10th in home runs 155 (tied with Seattle in fact).  The A’s are hitting better than the mariners but only slightly.  I’m sure if the A’s go with a tried and true starter they’ll pull away form the Mariners.

The Athletics pitchers are 7th in team ERA 3.69, 20th in strikeouts 1019, and 5th best in runs given up by a pitcher with a low 488.  Of course all these numbers are hollow since Ace Chris Bassitt (who leads the team in nearly every pitching stat) took a line-drive back to the mound in the face.  It was a scary moment that thankfully Chris is alright from.  Of course it puts a huge hole in the rotation.  Who will pitch Tuesday?  Who will pitch Thursday?.... Whoever they give the nod to hopefully he isn’t too green.

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This is a matchup between 2nd place and 3rd place in the American League West division.  A hot Aug aside if the Mariners want to salvage something from this season they need to close the gap with the A’s.  They need to do it this series.  The Mariners have spent the season as underdogs but here is their chance to roll into September in contention.  All they need is a little streak against this opponent.

The starting pitcher for the Seattle Mariners is Marco Gonzalez 5-5, 4.10 ERA, 77 strikeouts in 94 innings pitched, 1.26 WHIP.  Marco is not exactly a world beater but is solid enough to get the first pitch.  The First round pick Fort Collins Colorado product made his MLB debut in 2014 and has amassed a 46-32 career record on 611 innings pitched.  The 29 year old has gone back and forth between the minors and pros and that 4.10 ERA hasn’t budged up or down.

The Athletics will start a guy with a lot less stats… but starters have to start somewhere (Yogi Berra?).  Paul Blackburn 0-1, 5.06 ERA, 3 strikeouts in 5 innings pitched.  The 27 year old has career numbers of 5-8, 5.66 ERA, 1.44 WHIP since his debut in 2017.  Starting Paul for the A’s increases the Mariners odds of getting this win… still they are gonna give it a try.

Our MLB Pick for Monday, August 23rd game is Mariners 7 Athletics 3

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