Rays vs. Athletics prediction and odds for Thursday, June 15

All of the sudden things are going well for the Oakland Athletics and today they have a chance to close out this series with the Tampa Bay Rays on a high note. It’s the best team in baseball against maybe not the worst team in baseball anymore in the finale of a four-game series in Oakland.

For Game 4 the A’s will send Paul Blackburn to the mound to make his fourth start of the season and he enters with a 3.60 ERA. He will be opposed by Taj Bradley who is 4-3 with a 4.19 ERA in eight starts.

Despite the recent hot streak, the A’s are still big underdogs at home.

Rays vs. Athletics odds, run line and total

Rays vs. Athletics prediction and pick

June has been a tough month for the best team in the MLB. Well, at least for their lineup. The Rays are still winning games, especially at home, but they are now 17-15 on the road and their lineup has a .684 OPS in the month of June which is 22nd, eight spots behind Oakland. The stars for the Rays are still hitting well, but the role players like Taylor Walls and Josh Lowe have completely fallen off what they were doing in April and much of May.

What hasn’t fallen off is the pitching for Tampa Bay. In June they are third in ERA with a 2.91 and Taj Bradley is one of the reasons they aren’t first. Last time out Bradley gave up five runs, only four were earned, on four hits in 3.2 innings of work against the Rangers. For the year Bradley’s ERA is north of four, but his FIP is 2.94. He has 52 strikeouts to 12 walks in 38.2 innings.

I like Bradley to have a good start in the series finale, but I also think Tampa Bay’s offense will continue to struggle, this time against Paul Blackburn. I’ll take the under between the Rays and the A’s.

Follow all Josh Yourish’s bets HERE

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change