Cleveland Guardians (35-28, 1st AL Central) at Minnesota Twins (38-31, 2nd Al Central)
The Cleveland Guardians will look to capture sole possession of first place in the AL Central. Despite Cleveland winning eight of their last 10, Minnesota is favored at -155. Tristan McKenzie (4-5, 2.96 ERA) gets the ball for Cleveland and goes up against Sonny Gray (3-1, 2.09 ERA) for Minnesota. While Minnesota has the slight pitching advantage, Cleveland’s offense has come alive, led by third baseman and MVP candidate Jose Rameriz. Cleveland took the first game of the series in extra innings last night and will look to take the series tonight.
The Pick: Cleveland ML (+145)
Seattle Mariners (30-39, 4th AL West) at Oakland Athletics (23-46, 5th AL West)
A battle for the basement of the AL West is set for tonight, as Seattle, who is favored at -130, continues their underwhelming season. Oakland expected to be in this position but Seattle certainly didn’t, given all their free agents and trade acquisitions. Young prospect George Kirby (1-2, 3.56 ERA) will toe the rubber for Seattle and Oakland will counter with Paul Blackburn (6-2, 2.26 ERA), who’s been a lone bright spot on this pitching staff. There’s some conflicting betting angles in this one, as Seattle is 15-21 on the road and Oakland is just 8-26 at home. Seattle is also 9-17 as the favorite and Oakland is 29-30 as the underdog. Oakland will get the nod, as they look to even the series, because of the better pitching.
The Pick: Oakland ML (+120)
Kansas City Royals (25-42, 5th AL Central) at Los Angeles Angels (33-38, 3rd AL West)
Los Angeles, who are the heavy favorites at -220, find themselves hoping for a wild card spot at this point. Kansas City took the first two games of the series and have won four of their last five and will send out Daniel Lynch (3-6, 5.19 ERA) tonight. Two-way superstar Shoehi Ohtani (5-4, 3.28 ERA) gets the ball for Los Angeles. This is a tough one because Los Angeles is clearly the better team but isn’t playing well. Lynch hasn’t been great for Kansas City, further complicating things. Despite not playing well recently, Los Angeles is still the pick because Ohtani can shut down any lineup in the league.
The Pick: Los Angeles ML (-220)
