Athletics vs. Dodgers prediction and odds for Tuesday, Aug. 1 (Lynn's L.A. debut)

The Los Angeles Dodgers hold a 2.5 game lead in the NL West and are 59-45 despite losing their last two series.

Now, the schedule gets a whole lot easier with three games against the Oakland A’s who are 30-77. Oakland is actually coming off a series win, but they’re selling off what good players they do have at the deadline while the Dodgers are looking to supplement their championship caliber roster. 

One of LA’s additions is Lance Lynn, who will make his first start for the Dodgers tonight. Lynn is 6-9 in 21 starts for the White Sox this year with a 6.47 ERA. Oakland will counter with Ken Waldichuk, who is 2-6 with a 6.38 ERA. 

Let’s get into the odds for this West Coast interleague mismatch. 

Athletics vs. Dodgers odds, run line and total

Athletics vs. Dodgers prediction and pick

Lynn’s last start in Chicago did not go too well. He allowed seven runs to the Cubs on seven hits over 4.2 innings to bring his ERA up to 6.47. It’s been a bad year and that was just another example, but the Dodgers are that desperate for starting pitching.

They must see something in Lynn that they think they can fix to bring out a few vintage performances from him. They don’t need to do it often, but the Dodgers have been good at reclamation projects on the mound. 

If Lynn will succeed anywhere, it will probably be in LA, but I’m not sure how quickly that turnaround will happen. For now, my confidence in the Dodgers comes from their lineup. Well, and the fact that Oakland is terrible. 

LA is seventh in team OPS against lefties and they’re No. 1 in home runs against left-handers. Freddie Freeman leads the way with 11 and Mookie Betts has 10.

Those two both have an OPS marks over 1.000 against lefties. The Dodgers have too much firepower to let Oakland hang around, almost regardless of who is on the mound for either side.

I’ll take the Dodgers on the run line in Game 1 of this series. 

Pick: Dodgers -1.5 (-150)

Follow all Josh Yourish’s bets HERE

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change