If you are a fan of baseball you loved the first round of the playoffs. We saw 3 dogs win, while the Padres looked stronger than ever, in what sets up an amazing divisional round.
We have division-rival matchups in 3 of the 4 series and you know what that means…FIREWORKS! This could be one of the most epic playoff rounds we have seen in a long time!
The Cleveland Guardians Will Reach ALCS
I know everyone is very high on the Detroit Tigers right now and rightfully so, I am one of those people! We had a nice +146 ticket on them and as an Athletics fan, it was awesome to see the Astros go down. The Tigers hitting came up big in the most clutch moments and their pitching as a whole was stellar.
In my opinion, the Guardians have the advantage here because they have their pitching lined up for games 1 and 2. Tanner Bibee toes the rubber for game 1, and I expect Ben Lively to go game 2. Even if they get Skubal on Monday for Game 2, we more likely see a bullpen game at the end and I give that advantage to the Guardians.
The Guardians also have the advantage with the bats. While the Tigers bats have been sneaky good behind Vierling and Rogers, the Guardians have too much firepower in a five-game series. Jose Ramirez, Steven Kwan, and Josh Naylor can do enough damage while they have a gang of hitters deep in this lineup.
Tarik Skubal can only go 1 game to try to neutralize the Guardians' bats, and even then, in his career against them, he is 2-2, over 8 starts with a 3.41 ERA. In his last start this season he did go 7 innings, but he gave up 10 hits, yikes.
The Guardians hitting numbers as a whole on the season may not jump off the page, but they have dudes who can be big in clutch moment’s and sometimes that is more important than ranking top 10 in a hitting category!
Guardians Bullpen Is Too Good
If the game gets to late innings I give the slight edge to the Guardians. The Tigers have already seen that action, which gives them a let up early on, but they do not have Emmanuel Clase, Hunter Gaddis, or Tim Herrin. The Tigers bullpen’s collective ERA and WHIP is much higher than the Guardians.
Those 3 Guardians combined for 213 innings pitched, 1.36 combined ERA(Clase 0.61), and a 0.79 WHIP. In the postseason the games are never over until they are over, but if it reaches the hands of these 3, good luck Tigers!
My Best Bet:
Cleveland Guardians to Win Series (-125) DraftKings
