Athletics at Guardians Prediction: Odds, expert picks, starting pitchers, trends and stats for July 18
JP Sears is slated to take the mound for Oakland against Slade Cecconi for Cleveland.
The Guardians may well be sellers at the trade deadline this season. Cleveland sits 12 games behind the Tigers in the American League Central and 4.5 games back in the Wild Card chase. They won six of their final ten heading into the Break which has them positioned squarely on the fence in terms of buying or selling at the deadline.
The Athletics are mired in last place in the American League West sitting 16 games behind the Houston Astros. Their issue lies primarily on the bump. A's pitchers have surrendered the second most runs in baseball allowing 551 runners to cross home plate with only the Rockies having allowed more (589). For a bit of perspective, only three teams (Washington being the third) have allowed more than 488 runs.
Lets dive into the matchup and find a sweat or two.
We've got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch tipoff, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Game details & how to watch Athletics at Guardians
Date: Friday, July 18, 2025
Time: 7:10PM EST
Site: Progressive Field
City: Cleveland, OH
Network/Streaming: NBCSCA, CLEG
Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.
Odds for the Athletics at the Guardians
The latest odds as of Friday:
Moneyline: Athletics (+114), Guardians (-135)
Spread: Guardians -1.5
Total: 8.0 runs
Probable starting pitchers for Athletics at Guardians
Pitching matchup for July 18, 2025: JP Sears vs. Slade Cecconi
Athletics: JP Sears (7-7, 4.79 ERA)
Last outing: July 10 vs. Atlanta - 5IP, 3ER, 4H, 0BB, 6KsGuardians: Slade Cecconi (4-4, 3.44 ERA)
Last outing: July 9 at Houston - 7IP, 2ER, 5H, 2BB, 9Ks
Athletics: JP Sears (7-7, 4.79 ERA)
Last outing: July 10 vs. Atlanta - 5IP, 3ER, 4H, 0BB, 6Ks
Guardians: Slade Cecconi (4-4, 3.44 ERA)
Last outing: July 9 at Houston - 7IP, 2ER, 5H, 2BB, 9Ks
Rotoworld still has you covered with all the latest MLB player news for all 30 teams. Check out the feed page right here on NBC Sports for headlines, injuries and transactions where you can filter by league, team, positions and news type!
Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Athletics at Guardians
The Guardians have won 7 straight home games against the Athletics
6 of the Guardians' last 8 home game against the Athletics have gone over the Total
The Athletics have covered in 4 of their last 5 games showing a profit of 2.46 units
Brent Rooker is enjoying a 6-game hitting streak (9-22) including 2 HRs and 6 RBIs
Steven Kwan was just 2-15 (.133) in the 4-game series against the White Sox just prior to the Break
If you're looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!
Expert picks & predictions for tonight's game between the Athletics and the Guardians
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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Friday's game between the Athletics and the Guardians:
Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the Cleveland Guardians on the Moneyline.
Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Oakland Athletics at +1.5.
Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the over on the Game Total of 8.0.
Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page from NBC
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