The Chicago White Sox and Oakland Athletics conclude their best-of-three AL Wild Card Series Thursday afternoon at 3:10 p.m. ET at Ring Central Coliseum. The Athletics took Game 2 to stave off elimination. Below, we analyze the White Sox-Athletics Game 3 MLB betting odds and lines, with picks and best bets.
White Sox at Athletics: Projected starting pitchers
RHP Dane Dunning vs. RHP Mike Fiers
Dunning is a 25-year-old rookie who made seven starts in the regular season. He faltered over his last two turns but still managed to log a 3.97 ERA and 1.12 WHIP across 34 innings pitched overall.
- Allowed 4 earned runs in each of his last two starts, both of which were short outings of 4 and 3 innings.
- Logged 14 strikeouts over his first 9 1/3 MLB innings and finished the season with 9.3 K/9.
Fiers is a 10-year MLB vet who tallied a 4.58 ERA and 1.37 WHIP in 11 starts in 2020.
- The Athletics are 5-2 over Fiers’ last 7 starts.
- Has held current Chicago bats to a .623 OPS in past meetings.
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White Sox at Athletics: Key injuries
(Get the latest injury news here.)
White Sox
- OF Eloy Jimenez (lower body) out
Athletics
- 3B Matt Chapman (hip) out
White Sox at Athletics: Odds, lines, picks and betting tips
MLB odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full list. Odds last updated at 1:25 p.m. ET.
Money line (ML)
During the regular season, the Athletics (-106) averaged 4.57 runs per game while yielding 3.87. From an analytics standpoint, both figures are suspect, and the A’s went into the postseason as a solid default fade candidate. That’s not to say Oakland isn’t a solid club; just one too far over its skis with a .600 winning percentage. The bullpens are an even exchange, despite the Oakland side — with a 2.72 surface ERA — likely being overvalued.
Dunning figures to draw some fade action after stumbling in his last two starts, but the rookie right-hander was undone by some unkind rates around the margins (HR rates on fly balls, batting average on balls in play, etc.). Dunning throws a lot of fastballs and Oakland isn’t a strong team against the heater. The Athletics bat a lot from the right side (59% of PA vs. RHP), and that plays into an area of strength for Dunning. The A’s own a sub-.675 OPS over the last 20 days (regular and postseason combined).
Fiers looks to be pegged a bit too far the other way, and a 4.58 ERA oversells what was a lackluster 2020 campaign for the veteran. GRAB THE WHITE SOX (-106).
New to sports betting? A winning $106 bet on the White Sox ML will net a $100 return.
Run line/Against the spread (ATS)
PASS on what is a juice-drowned proposition on multi-run margins (White Sox -1.5 (+145)/Athletics +1.5 (-176).
Over/Under (O/U)
The UNDER 9 (-115) has been taking on the early action. Probably not enough yet, and the low side is indeed the lean for a low-humidity contest that’ll get the best arms both sides can muster.
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