The 2023 season has been a disappointing one for the Chicago White Sox, but they have a favorable weekend series against the Oakland Athletics starting on Friday night.
Oakland is coming off back-to-back tough losses to the New York Yankees where the team also had a perfect game thrown against it.
However, the A's and Yankees went OVER the total in back-to-back nights, and that could be in play as well on Friday against Chicago.
The White Sox will start opener Tanner Banks (0-2, 4.50 ERA) who is making just his third start of the season. Luis Medina (1-7, 6.84 ERA) gets the ball for the A's in this game.
Here are the latest odds and my best bet for this matchup:
White Sox vs. Athletics odds, run line and total
White Sox vs. Athletics prediction and pick
Medina has been brutal for the A's this season, allowing at least three runs in eight of his 10 outings.
The young righty carried an ERA over 8.00 into this month, but he's pitched slightly better in his last few outings. Still, even if Medina pitches decently, the A's have the worst bullpen ERA in baseball.
That's going to be a key here, even though neither of these offenses have been great this season.
I'm not overly concerned about Banks since he's pitched decently in his two outings as an opener but the bullpen behind him is a liability. The White Sox are 25th in bullpen ERA at 4.57 this season.
Given the pitching matchup and the fact that both pens will be taxed, I'll take a shot on the OVER on Friday night.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
