Griffin Wong gives you a preview, prediction and pick for tonight’s game between the Athletics and the Atlanta Braves.

After six days of the MLB season, all but one team has picked up a win, and every team has at least one loss. The one remaining winless team has a chance to get off the mark tonight, as the 0-4 Athletics will face the Atlanta Braves in Georgia at 7:15 p.m. ET. Coincidentally, the Braves were the final winless team in 2025, when they started off 0-7 and ended up missing the playoffs.

The Athletics’ hopes of finally breaking into the win column rely on Aaron Civale, while José Suarez will toe the rubber for Atlanta.

Let’s break down this matchup with some odds and lines at DraftKings Sportsbook.

Athletics at Atlanta Braves prediction, preview

To be fair, it hasn’t all been awful for the Athletics, who lost their first two games of the season by just one run, and the fact that both came against the reigning pennant-winning Toronto Blue Jays has to be some reason for comfort. Still, their offense has been atrocious, as they’ve slashed just .170/.222/.289 so far, and while that’s guaranteed to improve at some point, they ran pretty hot and cold offensively last season as well. The Braves, meanwhile, started their season with a fairly easy series against the Kansas City Royals. Their rotation has been dominant, as Bryce Elder, Reynaldo López, and Chris Sale gave up just one earned run in 18 combined innings. Their offense is also off to a solid start, as they currently rank fifth in OPS.

Civale has been on quite the journey through the league over the past three seasons after beginning his career with the Cleveland Guardians, pitching for Cleveland, Tampa Bay, Milwaukee, and both Chicago teams in that span. All of the moving clearly didn’t treat him well last season, as he had a career-high 4.85 ERA, but he settled down towards the end of the season with the Cubs, pitching to a 2.08 ERA across five appearances as a long reliever. In 2025, Civale was solid at preventing hard contact, allowing a 69th-percentile average exit velocity and a 62nd-percentile hard-hit rate, but he doesn’t throw very hard and struggles to miss bats, so Atlanta — which ranked ninth in whiff percentage last season — could be a difficult matchup. The Braves also chased relatively infrequently, so Civale could have more of an issue with walks than usual.

The Braves are opting for a relatively untested starter. Suárez has mostly been a reliever in recent seasons, as he made only one start last season (a seven-inning, two-hit effort against the Washington Nationals). While he pitched to a 1.86 ERA in 19.1 innings last season, his overall track record isn’t great, as he has a 5.30 ERA in 396.0 career frames, including a 5.59 mark as a starter. Still, the Venezuelan has some solid traits stuff; his whiff rate and ground-ball rate both would’ve ranked in the top tertile if he’d qualified last season, and in 2024 — his last qualified season — his breaking balls had a 73rd-percentile run value. His lackluster control might not be an issue against an Athletics team that walked at a below-average rate last season, and the Athletics did worse both against lefties and on the road. They also made lots of soft contact, and their best hitter, Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz, struggled somewhat against breaking balls.

Athletics at Atlanta Braves pick, best bet

Best Bet: Atlanta Braves -1.5 (+135)

The Athletics’ first win of the season might have to wait for another day. While neither starter has been very good, Suárez’s weaknesses are somewhat mitigated by those of the Athletics’ offense. Between 2025 Rookie of the Year Drake Baldwin and 2023 MVP Ronald Acuña Jr., Atlanta has more than enough talent to keep up its hot early-season form.

Strong Lean: Ronald Acuña 1+ Home Runs (+331)

Acuña hasn’t had a very strong start to the season, going just three-for-14 in his first four games, but it’d be a fool’s errand to doubt the slugger too much. He’s a decent bet to get back on track against Civale, who loves to throw cutters; last season, Acuña had a .497 expected wOBA against right-handed cutters. He also found the barrel at a 93rd percentile clip, and Civale had just a 23rd-percentile barrel rate.