Red Sox Remain Slim Underdogs For Series Against Struggling Athletics

The Boston Red Sox will be looking to claim their first series victory on the road in over a month when they travel to Oakland to take on the Athletics as narrow +106 moneyline underdogs at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com on Monday night.

The Red Sox halted a three-game losing streak Sunday, claiming a 6-3 victory over the Blue Jays in Toronto. The win marked the first time in their last six contests that the Red Sox have scored more than three runs and moved them out of a last-place tie with the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East division standings.

However, the Red Sox have work to do to close the gap on the first-place New York Yankees. The club enters Monday night’s Red Sox vs. Athletics betting matchup at O.co Coliseum looking for its first back-to-back wins in its last 18 games.

Boston’s uninspired play has started to impact its World Series odds, which have now slipped to 18-1 after opening the campaign at 10-1. However, the Red Sox face an A’s squad that has played even worse than them so far this season.

Oakland starts the week riding a five-game losing streak and is now a miserable 4-13 in its last 17 games, dropping the A’s to an AL-worst 12-21 on the season.

The A’s, however, will send one of their bright spots to the mound Monday. Veteran Scott Kazmir takes the hill sporting a 2-1 record and solid 2.75 ERA. However, the 31-year-old was roughed up in his last outing, giving up six earned runs and seven hits in six innings of work in a 13-0 pummeling against the Minnesota Twins last week.

Rick Porcello will be looking for his third straight win when he gets the call for the Red Sox on Monday. Porcello has surrendered just one earned run in 14 total innings over his last two starts to improve to 3-2 with a 4.38 ERA on the season.

Following their visit to Oakland, the Red Sox travel to Seattle for four games against the Mariners. Seattle opened the season with strong 12-1 odds to win the World Series, but a weak 14-17 start has dropped the M’s to 25-1.

With 11 wins in their last 15 games, the Los Angeles Dodgers remain atop the World Series odds at 6-1 at the sportsbooks, followed by the St. Louis Cardinals at 7-1 and the Kansas City Royals at 15-2.

The preseason favorite Washington Nationals have seen their World Series odds rebound to 10-1 after winning eight of their last 10 games. The Nationals opened the season as a 15-2 bet, but were quickly toppled from the top of the World Series odds after winning just seven of their first 20 games.

Thumbnail photo via Lance Iversen/USA TODAY Sports Images