Jesse Scholtens will get the start for the White Sox (50-77, 26-35 home) as they host the Athletics (36-91, 16-46 away) at Guaranteed Rate Field. The Athletics will give the starting nod to Ken Waldichuk. Check out my prediction for game one of this American League matchup between the Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox.

OAKLAND ATHLETICS VS CHICAGO WHITE SOX BETTING PICK

The Pick: Oakland Athletics +125

This game will be played at Guaranteed Rate Field at 8:10 ET on Thursday, August 24th.

WHY BET THE OAKLAND ATHLETICS:

  • Coming into the game, the White Sox have gone just 2-3 in their last five home games.
  • Over their last five games as the favorite, the White Sox are just 2-3 (straight-up).
  • The Athletics have gone 0-2 in Jesse Scholtens’ last two starts.

OAKLAND ATHLETICS LOOKING FOR UPSET AS ROAD UNDERDOGS

127 games into the season, the Athletics have a record of 36-91, putting them 5th in the AL West. This mark includes an overall series 9-30-1. At home, they are 20-45 compared to 16-46 on the road.

Oakland will turn to Ken Waldichuk for the start, who has a 2-7 record in 2023. The right-hander has put together a three game stretch of allowing less than three earned runs, and his ERA stands at 5.91 with a FIP of 5.34. Opposing batters have slugged .488 against him, and he has 107 strikeouts so far this season.

Ken Waldichuk was unable to secure a win in his last outing, lasting 5 2/3 innings in the Athletics’ 7-2 defeat to the Orioles. The right-hander finished with a no-decision, allowing two runs on four hits.

Having gone deep 14 times in their last ten games, the Athletics are 6th in that span. At 3.6 runs per game, Oakland is 28th in the league. This figure has come on a team batting average of .223 while hitting a total of 127 home runs (22nd).

The Athletics’ Esteury Ruiz leads the team in hits this season, boasting a .243 batting average. His slugging percentage stands at .320 and his on-base percentage is .298 entering the game.

WILL THE CHICAGO WHITE SOX TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS AT HOME?

The White Sox’s record of 50-77 has them ranked 4th in the AL Central. So far, they have a below .500 series record of 11-26-4. This season, they have gone 26-35 at home and 24-42 on the road.

Jesse Scholtens has had a season of mixed results thus far. His overall record stands at 1-6, with an ERA of 3.79. On the road, he has gone 0-5 with an ERA of 2.69 in 12 appearances, while at home he is 1-1 with a 3.50 ERA. His WHIP is 1.35 and opponents are batting .254 against him, with a slugging percentage of .382.

Jesse Scholtens endured a difficult start to his 2023 campaign, as the White Sox fell to the Rockies 11-5 in his last outing. The right-hander was unable to make it through five innings, surrendering five earned runs on five hits.

The White Sox’s offense comes into today’s game with a collective batting average of .239 and are averaging 4.1 runs per game for the season. Looking at their ten most recent games, Chicago has gone deep eight times, which is ranked 12th in that time. To date, the team’s OPS is .681 to go along with an on base percentage of .295.

The White Sox have seen Luis Robert Jr. lead the team in home runs over their last ten games, with two long balls and a season-long total of 33. Robert Jr. has an overall batting average of .266 on the year.