A Must-Win Series For The Guardians
The Game 1 Guardians vs White Sox Odds Favor Cleveland
The Cleveland Guardians currently lead the AL Central by 2.5 MLB games with. They’ll likely stay in first place by the end of the weekend. They hit the road to take on the last-placed Chicago White Sox in a four-game divisional series. But while the Guardians are 24-13 on the year, the White Sox don’t even have ten wins. Thus, the Guardians vs White Sox odds favor Cleveland in Game 1 at -162.
Game 1 of the series begins Thursday night. This is ultimately Chicago’s best chance at winning, with Erick Fedde penciled in as the starting pitcher. Fedde has the only respectable ERA on the White Sox. But even with him, the White Sox are +136 underdogs, with the total currently at 8. The under is also juiced to -115, with Cleveland pitching Ben Lively.
We’ve got four games to cover, so let’s get right to the Guardians vs White Sox odds for Game 1 and the rest of the series below.
Guardians vs White Sox 
Records: Cleveland Guardians (24-13), Chicago White Sox (9-28)
Day/Time:
Location: Guaranteed Rate Field, Chicago, IL
Streaming: NBCSCH, Bally Sports Great Lakes
Guardians Getting Impact At Top of Lineup
With one of Cleveland’s MLB batting leaders, Steven Kwan, sidelined with a hamstring injury, the Guardians are looking for more impact at the top of the order.
Therefore, Cleveland has temporarily gone with Estevan Florial to step into the lead-off role. In his last 12 at-bats, Florial is hitting .250 but has two doubles and an RBI. The Guardians like that he can control the zone and battle.
Goodbye, Robbie Grossman
The White Sox made their first of many trades this season. Yesterday, they traded Robbie Grossman to the Texas Rangers in exchange for Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa.
Grossman was added to the 40-man roster, leaving Kolton Ingram to be designated for assignment. He was on the Rangers last season. With Chicago, he’s only hit .211. However, he had a .238 average last season and will be comfortable with his old MLB team.
He’s also low-cost, which is another positive for the Rangers. Ultimately, Grossman was among the few consistent power bats in the lineup. Without Grossman, the White Sox just got worse.
Guardians vs White Sox Odds For Game 1:
RL: Guardians -1.5 (+103) ML: Guardians -162, O/U 8 +106/-126
Game 1
- Thursday, 7:40 pm ET
- Ben Lively vs Erick Fedde
Ben Lively will start for Cleveland in the first game of the series. He’s already struck out 28.2% of batters and held opponents to a .128 ISO and wOBA of .266.
He won’t induce grounders, but he’s still got a 2.08 ERA after facing 85 batters. That’ll be good enough against the White Sox’s projected lineup, which has hit just a .136 ISO and wOBA of .284 against righties since last season.
Meanwhile, Lively will face Erick Fedde of the White Sox. Fedde’s ERA is sitting at 3.46, which is easily the best number in the Chicago rotation. Fedde has held teams to a .305 wOBA and has earned 25% of strikeouts. He won’t tally up many strikeouts against the Guardians tonight and has still allowed a .222 ISO to lefties.
Therefore, we’ve got the Guardians in Game 1 at -162 odds as one of our best MLB bets today.
Game 2
- Friday, 7:40 pm ET
- Carlos Carrasco vs Garrett Crochet
The Guardians will ride with another right-handed pitcher in Game 2 of the series. This time, it’ll be Carlos Carrasco. Carrasco is a veteran pitcher with a 5.67 ERA. He’s allowed a .227 ISO and wOBA of .390 and has only struck out 17.4% of batters with 11.4% of walks.
Carrasco has been better against righties, but lefties have hit a .231 ISO and wOBA of .432 with 29.4% of line drives hit. The righty won’t pitch a lot of strikeouts, giving the White Sox a legitimate chance to put runs on the board in this one. He faces another pitcher with an ERA above 5.00.
Garrett Crochet began the season on fire. While he’s had high strikeouts, he’s also allowed a .204 ISO and has induced only 41% of ground balls. You’ll get a mixed bag out of Crochet. Meanwhile, the Guardians don’t match up very well against lefties to begin with.
Chicago could escape Game 2 with a win against Carrasco.
Game 3
- Saturday, 7:10 pm ET
- Triston McKenzie vs Mike Clevinger
It’ll be Triston McKenzie for Cleveland in Game 3. McKenzie has done well against other righties as a right-handed pitcher. But he’s also allowed lefties to hit a .219 ISO and wOBA of .353 with only 15.3% of strikeouts against them this MLB season. Lefties have also hit 36.1% of fly balls and just 27.9% of ground balls against McKenzie. Plus, his walk rate is up to 14.1%.
Despite all these numbers, McKenzie has escaped with an ERA of 3.97. There will also likely be more righties than lefties in the lineup for Chicago in this game. That favors McKenzie.
On the other hand, Mike Clevinger made his season debut at his last start, and it wasn’t pretty. He finished with a 13.50 ERA and allowed a .250 ISO and wOBA of .576 with no strikeouts and 25% of walks. Last year, he was way worse against lefties. Cleveland would figure to have eight lefties against Clevinger in Game 3.
We’d back Cleveland here when the Guardians vs White Sox odds release for this game.
Game 4
- Sunday, 2:10 pm ET
- Logan Allen vs Michael Soroka
The Guardians’ lone lefty will pitch on Sunday. Logan Allen has a 5.11 ERA for Cleveland after he’s allowed a .264 ISO and wOBA of .393 to 176 batters faced this year. While he’s kept walks down, Allen has struggled against righties, gaining only 17.1% of strikeouts while giving up more than 30 % of fly balls.
Lucky for Allen, Chicago’s lineup has been dreadful against lefties since last season. Only Tommy Pham has done damage this last season. This is a spot where Robbie Grossman would’ve helped the White Sox. While Allen has been awful, he’s facing Michael Soroka, who has been worse.
Soroka has walked more batters than he’s struck out this season. He’s also allowed a .230 ISO and wOBA of .371 to his first 173 batters faced this year.
Soroka has yet to earn a win and has an ERA of 6.48. According to our MLB predictions, a win here would give Cleveland the series, 3-1.
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