The Cleveland Guardians Can Do No Wrong

The Cleveland Guardians have exceeded all expectations to begin the season. They are already 22-12 on the season and have a home series against the Detroit Tigers to start the week.

The Tigers have been good. However, they haven’t been great. Detroit is 18-16 and in jeopardy of falling to .500 on the road in this series.

Detroit’s offense has been weak, especially when Reese Olson takes the mound. Olson will pitch in Game 3 of the three-game series, but he’s 0-4 with just a 2.70 ERA. That proves just how little run support the Tigers have produced for their starters this season.

Therefore, the Guardians are slight favorites at -116 in Game 1 of the series at home when looking at the MLB betting lines. Meanwhile, the total is set at 7.5, with the Under juiced to -115.

Here’s an in-depth look at our Tigers vs Guardians series preview below.

Detroit Was Swept Over The Weekend

Things are no longer looking positive for the Tigers. After a three-game sweep over the weekend, the Tigers are down to 18-16 on the season.

Detroit’s lineup has struggled recently. On Sunday, Detroit’s Tarik Skubal added 12 strikeouts and allowed two runs in six innings. Yet, the Yankees still defeated the Tigers after Detroit scored only two runs in the 7th inning in an eight-inning shortened ball game due to rain.

This has been a common theme throughout the season for Detroit. The pitching staff can hold its own. However, the offense can’t.

Steven Kwan Placed On Injured Reserve

The Guardians have placed Steven Kwan on the Injured List due to a hamstring injury. He had been one of the best hitters in the MLB this season, hitting .353 before being sidelined. Kwan even led the AL in hits with 47 on the season before going down.

With Kwan off the roster for now, the Guardians have brought up top prospect Kyle Manzardo. He’s hit .309 with nine home runs in Triple-A and is a major threat at the plate.

Tigers vs Guardians Series Preview Odds For Game 1:

RL: ML: Guardians-116, O/U 7.5 -105/-115

Jack Flaherty will pitch for the Tigers in Game 1 of the series. The right-hander has been terrific for the Tigers, striking out 34% of batters this season. Flaherty has also walked just 3.4% of batters and held teams to a .151 ISO and wOBA of .288.

Flaherty will take on a Guardians lineup that hasn’t hit for much power against righties since last year. Still, the Guardians have five batters in the lineup that have struck out below 20% of the time against righties since last year. That should count for something.

The Guardians will pencil in Triston McKenzie to start this one. McKenzie has struck out 18.8% of batters and walked 14.1% of batters. It’s been a below-average start for McKenzie, who has also allowed a .200 ISO and wOBA of .347 to his first 76 lefties this season.

However, he’s facing a Tigers projected lineup that only has Wenceel Perez and Riley Greene hitting consistently against righties. Those two are really the only bats that look good against righties. The rest of the lineup has either low wOBA or high strikeout numbers.

Although Flaherty has pitched better overall, the Guardians look better overall, especially at home. Back the Guardians at -116 in Game 1 of the series.

While Flaherty has seen a resurgence for the Tigers, Kenta Maeda hasn’t. He’s got a 5.02 ERA this year and has allowed a .270 ISO and wOBA of .356 this season. Maeda has kept walks down, but he’s also struck out just 18.3% of batters this season.

In addition, Maeda has given up 28.1% of line drives and has only induced about 40% of ground balls this year.

Meanwhile, the Guardians have listed Logan Allen as one of their MLB probable pitchers in the series. He’s projected to pitch in the second matchup of the series. That said, Allen has allowed a .238 ISO and wOBA of .364 to 136 batters this year.

Using the projected lineup, the Tigers have only hit a .155 ISO and wOBA of .316 against lefties since last season. Andy Ibáñez, Mark Canha, Jake Rogers, and Spencer Torkelson have had good numbers against lefties since last season. But there are also three batters in the lineup who have struck out at least 30% of the time against lefties.

Still, the Tigers have way more potential against Allen, who continues to give up plenty of fly balls and a high hard-hit rate.

The two pitchers in this game each have an ERA above 5. Therefore, the Over looks to be the play in this one.

In the finale, the Tigers will have Reese Olson. Olson is 0-4 with a 2.70 ERA, which is almost unheard of, but that’s not a typo.

Olson has held teams to a .050 ISO and wOBa of .272 with more than 51% of ground balls. While his strikeouts are low this season, he’s still held teams to 22.3% of line drives and only 19.1% of fly balls. All of that is fantastic.

Olson will face Tanner Bibee of the Guardians, who has had an interesting start. While the right-hander has dominated other righties, he’s been atrocious against lefties. Bibee has added 32.8% of strikeouts against righties but has watched lefties hit a .271 ISO and wOBA of .408 against him.

He’ll have tough matchups against Perez and Greene, but the Tigers aren’t putting up crazy at-bats against right-handed pitching. Facing the Tigers lineup should potentially help Bibee’s numbers against left-handers improve.

While we predicted the Over in Game 2, the Under will be more appealing in Game 3 of the Tigers vs Guardians series preview.

Don’t forget to check out the National League Baseball standings along with the American League Baseball standings. The Guardians could soon approach the top of the entire MLB standings if they continue to play as well as they have.

Tigers vs Guardians Runline

For MLB predictions, betting analysis and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.

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