Astros vs. Athletics prediction and odds for Thursday, July 20 (Fade the A's)

The Houston Astros are a disappointing 5-5 in their last 10 games, sitting 4.5 games behind the Texas Rangers for the top spot in the AL West. Luckily for them, they have four game weekend set against the worst team in baseball, which will give them a great chance to gain ground.

Remember when the Athletics were a fun team to watch for a couple of weeks? Those days are long behind them. They are proving night after night that they simply can't be competitive.

Let's dive into the odds for the series opener and then I'll give you my best bet.

Astros vs. Athletics odds, run line, and total

Astros vs. Athletics prediction and pick

The obvious bet to make is the right bet to make in tonight's game. Sure, you can lay the -200 juice on the Astros moneyline tonight if you'd like, but I'm going to get a little bit more aggressive and take the Astros run -1.5 run line at -118 odds.

Don't be afraid to take the run line against the Athletics. They have a run differential this season of -256, which is 97 runs worse than the next worse team. Yikes.

To make matters worse for the A's tonight, they're starting Hogan Harris, who has a 6.51 ERA on the season and a 12.46 ERA in the month of July. That's absolutely abysmal.

The Astros will be rolling with J.P. France tonight, who sports an extremely respectable 3.31 ERA on the season. Not only that, but he's a right-handed pitcher, which is good news for Astros backers. The Athletics are batting just .218 against righties this season, the worst mark in the Majors.

Astros will win big tonight.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change