Toronto Can’t Seem To Get Over The Hump
Can Toronto Be Valuable Per Guardians vs Blue Jays Series Predictions?

The gap between what the Toronto Blue Jays should be on paper compared with what they are on the field is huge but, despite all the underperformance, the Blue Jays are only two baseball games under .500 and have shown signs of turning this thing around. If you’re making Guardians vs Blue Jays predictions for Friday’s opener, the Blue Jays are -128 moneyline favorites. The total is eight runs.
Toronto will have a tough task this weekend as the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians head north of the border for a three-game set.
Cleveland has cooled off a bit in the last two weeks or so. The Guardians are still 20 games over .500 and still boast a top-ten offense as well as the across-the-board best bullpen in baseball. If anyone other than Logan Allen was starting on Friday, Cleveland would be one of the best MLB bets today.
However, he and Carlos Carrasco (Saturday’s starter) have struggled this season so you may want to be hesitant with betting on the Guardians.
The Blue Jays just traded former top prospect Cavan Biggio to the Dodgers and he served as an embodiment of this lineup’s issues. Toronto is in the bottom third in most offensive categories and, surprisingly, has scored the sixth-fewest runs in baseball.
The starting rotation is what’s holding the Blue Jays intact and Toronto has a good group going this weekend in Kevin Gausman, Yariel RodrÃguez, and José Berrios. If the Blue Jays are going to (at least) take two of three from Cleveland, it’ll all start with the rotation.
Guardians vs Blue Jays 
Day/Time:
Records: Guardians (43-23)/Blue Jays (33-35)
Location: Rogers Centre; Toronto, ON
Streaming: MLB Network
Cleveland’s Lineup Is Dangerous
The Guardians may not look it but they have a top-ten offense across the board. They are sixth in baseball in run scores. Their lineup is an underrated reason why, if you’re making Guardians vs Blue Jays predictions, you may want to side with Cleveland even though the starting pitching matchups may favor Toronto.
José RamÃrez is a perennial MVP candidate. He is having an MVP-like season with 18 home runs and an MLB-leading 62 RBIs. Josh Naylor is close behind with 17 dingers and 50 RBIs and breakout utilityman David Fry is one of few MLB hitters with an OPS over 1.000.
In recent seasons, a lack of offense held the Guardians back. This season, the lineup has carried Cleveland through some starting rotation shakiness. Stephen Vogt’s club can hurt you in a variety of ways as it’s 11th in home runs, 10th in OPS, 8th in on-base percentage, and 7th in stolen bases.
This is a very opportunistic club with a few really good MLB players — Steven Kwan has continued to rake since returning from an MLB injury — and a lot of decent players. Even the guys who aren’t big hitters are plus defenders as the Guardians are fourth in defensive runs saved.
Plus, the MLB live scores tend to go in Cleveland’s direction when the Guardians build an early lead. Their bullpen ERA, WHIP, BB/9, H/9, and HR/9 are all first in the Majors with K/9 a measly third-best. Good luck coming back against this baseball team, especially when closer Emmanuel Clase gets a lead.
He has allowed just one earned run all season and has an AL-best 20 saves. Guys like Hunter Gaddis, Nick Sandlin, Tim Herrin, and Cade Smith aren’t household names. But they are shut-down relievers in every sense of the term.
Blue Jays Need Good Starts
The big problem with taking Toronto on your Guardians vs Blue Jays predictions is that the lineup is wildly inconsistent.
Some days, it’ll look like the Blue Jays team that won 89+ games each of the last three MLB seasons. Other days, it’s a struggle to score more than a couple of runs.
What will help Toronto big time is if Gausman and BerrÃos can give the Blue Jays effective starts against the strong Guardians lineup. RodrÃguez hasn’t pitched since the end of April due to a back injury so he’ll be pretty limited on Saturday.
For the other two games, Gausman and BerrÃos, two of Toronto’s veteran arms, have to step up for Toronto to overcome and narrow the gap with the Cleveland Guardians standings.
Gausman is coming off a complete game shutout against the Oakland Athletics and has given up three runs or fewer in four of his last five starts. BerrÃos has given up three runs or fewer in 13 of his 14 starts this season.
He has been a model of consistency just two years removed from allowing the most hits and earned runs in the American League.
With Gausman facing off with Allen on Friday night — Allen has a 5.57 ERA in 13 starts and has allowed an MLB-most 14 home runs — consider taking the Blue Jays straight-up at -128.
- The over 8 runs (-110) may also be a good idea as Toronto could kickstart its sluggish offense against the scuffling lefthander.
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