Oakland Athletics vs. Seattle Mariners Preview

The second and third place teams in the AL West will battle it out in a four-game series starting on Thursday as the Oakland Athletics (55-42) take on the Seattle Mariners (51-45). The Mariners will host Thursday’s contest at T-Mobile Park, with first pitch scheduled for 10:10 pm ET.

The Oakland Athletics enjoyed a day off on Wednesday after sweeping a short, two-game series against the Los Angeles Angels to start the week. On Tuesday, they won 6-0 behind six scoreless innings from James Kaprielian and Matt Olson, hitting his 25th home run of the season.

The Seattle Mariners finished a two-game series of their own on Wednesday with the Colorado Rockies, splitting the pair of games. In the finale Wednesday, they lost 6-3 despite hitting three home runs.

The A’s are the favorites Thursday despite playing on the road. They are -136 to win while the Mariners’ moneyline sits at +116. The runline features Seattle +1.5 (-142), and the over/under for total runs is 8.

Pitching Matchup

Oakland will open the series by sending lefty Sean Manaea to the mound. On the season, Manaea is 6-6 with a 3.28 ERA and 1.20 WHIP. In 109.2 innings, he has struck out 115 while walking 25.

The Mariners will counter with righty Chris Flexen (9-3, 3.35 ERA). In his last start, a 6-5 win over the Angels, Flexen went seven innings, allowing a single earned run on six hits.

By The Number

Offensively, Oakland has been the stronger of the two teams. They rank 15th in scoring averaging 4.40 runs per game. The Mariners rank 23rd, averaging 4.15 runs (3.86 at home).

The A’s once again have the upper hand on defense. They rank ninth in scoring defense, allowing opponents just four runs per game. The Mariners fall to 20th, allowing 4.66 runs per game.

Oakland Looks To Cut Deficit In AL West

At 55-42, the A’s sit just three games back of the Houston Astros for first in the division. With the Astros having an off day on Thursday, Oakland will look to cut into their deficit. To do so, they will continue to rely on the hot bat of first baseman Matt Olson. Currently +5000 to win the AL MVP, Olson has been fantastic this season. He is hitting .291/.379/.588 with a team-leading 25 home runs, 63 runs batted in, and 63 runs scored.

Olson has also had success against Flexen in his career, going two for three. In the power department, only Mitch Moreland has taken Flexen deep in his career.

Mariners Hope To Stay Hot At Home

At 51-45 and 6.5 games back in the division, the Mariners are very much in the postseason hunt. While they have struggled on the road this year (22-25), they have been fantastic at home (29-20). A lot of their success is in large part due to the resurgence of Mitch Haniger. After missing last season, Haniger is hitting .265/.322/.511 and leads the team in home runs (23), runs batted in (59), and runs scored (66).

Haniger has also had success against Manaea hitting .348 against the lefty in 23 at-bats. Kyle Seager is the only Mariner to have taken Manaea deep but is only hitting .212 in 33 at-bats.

Take Seattle On The Runline

This one is a tough one to call. While the A’s seem like the better team on paper, Seattle has hung around all season, and Flexen is really enjoying a strong year. Furthermore, Seattle has been a much stronger club at home than on the road.

This truly seems like a game that could go either way, and, for that reason, taking the runs seems like the smart play. In this case, that means Seattle +1.5 (-142).