Mariners vs Athletics Odds, Picks, and Probable Pitchers (Sep. 20)

• The Oakland Athletics are -160 favorites over the visiting Seattle Mariners on Monday (September 20th, 9:40 pm ET)
• Oakland will give the ball to Sean Manaea (10-9, 3.95 ERA), while Seattle will counter with Tyler Anderson (6-9, 4.14 ERA)
• Read below for odds, analysis and a betting prediction

Time is running out on the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics. The two sit four and two games back of Toronto respectively for the AL’s final Wild Card berth, with 13 games apiece remaining on the 2021 calendar. Seattle travels to Oakland on Monday (Sept. 20th) for the first of four pivotal matchups between the AL West rivals.

Mariners vs Athletics Odds

Odds as of  September 19th at DraftKings.

The hometown Athletics opened as -160 moneyline favorites, in a game that features a total of 8.5. First pitch is scheduled for 9:40 pm ET at the Oakland Coliseum, with clear skies and 63 degree night time temperatures in the forecast.

Probable Pitchers

Oakland will hand the ball to Sean Manaea, looking to extend its winning streak to six games. Manaea is coming off a terrible outing, surrendering nine hits and five runs to the lowly Kansas City Royals. Despite the poor effort, Manaea still picked up the win thanks to 12 runs of support from his offense.

Left-handed #MLB SP with multiple outings with at least 10 Ks and 1 ER or fewer this season ⬇️

Robbie Ray (6x)
Blake Snell (5x)
Carlos Rodón (5x)
Julio Urías (2x)
Sean Manaea (2x)
Andrew Heaney (2x)
Jordan Montgomery (2x)

Some Yankee legends to finish out that link. 😉😂 pic.twitter.com/aP7fzMfgoN

— Ahaan Rungta (@AhaanRungta) September 16, 2021

The rocky outing isn’t exactly new for Manaea, as he’s allowed five or more runs in four of his past eight starts.

He has however, been virtually unhittable in two starts against the Mariners. He’s 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA and 0.80 WHIP, with one of his two outings being a complete game shutout. Seattle batters are hitting just .132 against him in 2021, while only Tom Murphy and Mitch Haniger boast an average north of .222 versus Manaea over their careers.

Anderson vs Manaea

The Mariners will counter with Tyler Anderson, who’s failed to make it out of the 5th inning in back-to-back starts. He’s winless in his last five outings overall, surrendering three homers in his past 9 innings of work.

The soft-tossing lefty has yielded a .462 slugging percentage and a .753 OPS since coming over to Seattle at the trade deadline, which doesn’t bode well with a matchup  against the red-hot A’s on deck.

Batting Average vs Starting Pitchers

Oakland has outscored its opposition 30-19 over its five-game winning streak, and has a higher batting average, slugging percentage and OPS versus lefties than righties.

Anderson has yet to face the A’s in 2021, but is 1-1 in four career starts against them with a 5.68 ERA.

Mariners vs Athletics

Given Manaea’s dominance of Seattle, and Anderson’s shaky performance since joining the Mariners, it makes sense to target the A’s, especially early. We want to attack Seattle while Anderson is in the game, so check out Oakland on the run line over the first 5 innings.

The A’s have jumped out to healthy leads over the first 5 innings in nine of their past 11 contests, while Anderson is having difficulty just making out of the 5th inning lately. Over his past two starts he’s surrendered a hard hit rate of 41.7% and 35.3%, and if he brings that kind of effort on Monday the ball is going to be sailing out of the Oakland Coliseum.

Pick: Oakland Athletics First 5 innings -0.5 (-110)