Phillies vs Athletics: Best prop bets, TV schedule & betting preview for June 16th

The Philadelphia Phillies are officially back over .500 once again. The red-hot Fightin’s now travel to Oakland to try and keep the good times rolling against an Athletics franchise in despair.

Phillies vs Athletics info

Date: Friday, June 16th
Time: 9:40pm ET
Location: Oakland Coliseum, Oakland
TV channel: MLB TV

Phillies vs Athletics Betting odds

Money line: Philadelphia Phillies (-135) | Oakland Athletics (+115)
Run Line: Philadelphia Phillies -1.5 (+125) | Oakland Athletics +1.5 (-145)
Run total: Over/Under 8 (-110)

Pitching matchup

Taijuan Walker (6-3, 4.67 ERA) vs JP Sears (1-3, 4.15 ERA)

The Phillies are finally beginning to click from a pitching perspective. After a bumpy start to the year, they maintain a 4.30 ERA, but it’s down to 3.30 over their last 3 games. A struggling Oakland offense is the perfect opponent to keep up the dominance against.

Walker is averaging 7.5 strikeouts per game and his total today is 5.5. Given that the A’s offense ranks 27th in batting average, there is already some real value here without even diving into the game itself. I’ll absolutely be backing Walker, who has 13 strikeouts in his last 2 games along with only 4 hits, to punch in a similarly impressive display here.

Across from Walker will be JP Sears, who gave up 6 hits and a pair of runs in his last start. Given the caliber of offense he’s now facing, this is going to be a tough spot for a pitcher who has proven he can go deep into games. The Phils are batting .260 on the year and should be able to wear him down fairly comfortably.

Phillies vs Athletics Betting preview

The Phillies are now 8-2 in their last 10 games and are above .500 for the first time since May. The bats are firing on all cylinders and the pitching woes have ceased for now. As for Oakland, their struggles are well documented with fans protesting a sale of the team and the agony amongst the die-hards only growing as the season goes on.

The vibes in Oakland are terrible right now. Even though the A’s recently had a seven-game win-streak, they maintain a .618 OPS at home…in front of those angry fans. It’s not a great thing to factor into a bet, but this is a vulnerable team.

We mentioned earlier that Taijuan Walker is facing a poor offense and is coming off of two strong performances. What we didn’t note was that his ERA over his last 5 games is 1.93. There is only one way to bet this game, and it’s backing the Phillies and Taijuan Walker to get it done.