Will The Mariners Rebound After Splitting First Series?

The Cleveland Guardians missed out on a sweep of the Oakland Athletics after a one-run loss last night. However, the Guardians are still 3-1 heading into a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners.

Any team will take a four-game series win. However, knowing how bad the Athletics will be this season, the Guardians probably should’ve swept them.

Anyway, the Mariners only went 2-2 in their first four games of the season. To begin the season, Seattle took on the Boston Red Sox in a four-game series. Ultimately, the Red Sox were believed to be another weak team in the American League. That didn’t look like the case.

Only time will tell if the Mariners aren’t as good or if the Red Sox are actually a handful. However, in a four-game series at home against the Red Sox, the Mariners can’t be too thrilled about splitting the series at two a piece.

Each team already played four games. Therefore, the Mariners and Guardians will start their No. 5 starters in this game. The Guardians will give the ball to Triston McKenzie, while the Mariners will send out Emerson Hancock. With that, the Guardians are slight favorites at -109, while the total is stuck at 8.

Let’s discuss the Guardians vs Mariners betting lines for this American League three-game series below.

Cade Smith’s MLB Debut For The Guardians

The Cleveland Guardians set up a plan for Cade Smith to make him the last bullpen guy to begin the season. He’s the No. 25 prospect in the Guardians’ system and recorded five strikeouts in two hitless innings with only one walk.

Smith set a record for most strikeouts in a debut of two innings or fewer and averaged 96 mph with his fastball.

His debut couldn’t have gone any better. The Guardians might have a very reliable pitcher out of the bullpen this season.

Don’t Overlook Andres Munoz!

While we’re on the topic of bullpens, let’s talk about Andres Munoz of the Mariners. Munoz solidified himself as the closer for the Mariners last season.

He’s only had one opportunity for a save with the Mariners through four games. But his first save of the year, on March 29, was a good one. He went 1.1 innings and struck out three batters while allowing no base runners for a four-out save.

Munoz will be one of the best closers in the game this year. He’s also just 25 years old. You can feel comfortable betting on Seattle with the Guardians vs Mariners betting lines if Seattle leads in the ninth inning.

Guardians vs. Mariners Odds Game 1: RL Guardians (+155), ML Guardians -109, O/U 8 -110/-110

The Guardians will give Triston McKenzie the start for the series opener. The right-hander had a shoulder and an elbow injury last season after going 0-3 in four games with a 5.06 ERA. While he struck out 16 batters in 16 innings, his WHIP was 1.56, and he struggled early.

Still, throughout his career, he’s got a 3.74 ERA with a WHIP of 1.05. A healthy McKenzie could be elite. We just don’t know if he’ll be acclimated just yet.

While McKenzie might not be acclimated yet, Emerson Hancock likely won’t be either. The Seattle right-hander has only three career games in the MLB. In those three games, he’s thrown 12 innings with only six strikeouts. In the spring, he threw four games and finished with a 10.24 ERA. He went 9.2 innings and allowed 15 hits and 11 runs.

Seattle has a lot of power against righties, including Cal Raleigh, J.P Crawford, Julio Rodriguez, Jorge Polanco, and Mitch Haniger. Meanwhile, Cleveland also has some power against righties, with Andres Gimenez, Jose Ramirez, Josh Naylor, and Bo Naylor, who all had success with extra-base hits against righties last season. The Over 8 will be part of the MLB picks today.

On Tuesday, Shane Bieber will get the call for Game 2 of the series. Bieber only had a 3.80 ERA with 107 strikeouts in 128 innings last season. His strikeout rate dropped to 19.9%.

But in his first game of 2024, Bieber struck out 11 batters in six innings and had a WHIP of .83. While it was against the Athletics, it was still convincing. This was the old Shane Bieber on the mound.

While Bieber had a convincing start, Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo didn’t. He pitched five innings against the Red Sox and finished with a 7.20 ERA after five strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.60. He allowed six hits, two walks, and four earned runs, ending up with the loss.

Overall, Castillo’s still a reliable pitcher. He struggled a little against lefties, but overall, he was dominant against righties and struck out over 27% of batters last year. We wouldn’t be concerned with Castillo’s first start, but again, it wasn’t convincing.

Typically, the MLB scoreboard has low numbers when these two are on the mound. When the Guardians vs Mariners betting lines open on the sportsbooks, consider the Under in this game.

In the series finale, Logan Allen will get the start for Cleveland. To begin the season, he didn’t impress in his start against the Athletics. While he ended up with a win, he only went five innings. He struck out just three batters in those five innings and had a WHIP of 1.20 with a 5.40 ERA.

Last year, he finished with a 3.81 ERA and struck out nearly a batter per inning. But he still had a 1.40 WHIP, which was a little too high. That likely won’t change this season. The lefty could be in danger against the Mariners in this game.

He’ll have to face George Kirby, who is probably one of the more underrated pitchers in the game. Kirby already pitched against the Red Sox and had eight strikeouts in 6.2 innings while allowing no runs.

This was the same as last year. Kirby held teams to a .147 ISO and wOBA of .288. He walked just 2.4% of batters the previous season and typically specializes in keeping guys off the basepaths. The Mariners certainly have the better matchup in this game. They’ll absolutely be favorites when the MLB betting lines are out for this one.

Guardians vs Mariners Betting Lines

For picks, odds analysis, and more, visitPoint SpreadsSports Magazine.

Can’t get enough? Here’s more!

• Cortes and Valdes Get The Ball in Yankees-Astros Opener
• Will Ohtani’s Drama Interpreter Impact Dodgers Opening Day?
• MLB Managers on the Hot Seat: Boone, Cora Under Pressure to Win
• How To Bet Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s MLB Debut
• Yoshinobu Yamamoto Presumptive Favorite for NL Rookie of the Year