Back Guardians At Plus Money

Guardians vs. Rangers, 8:05 ET

The first half of the season didn’t really go the way that I had envisioned it. It wasn’t miserable, but there was only one big stretch where I was super hot. I’d rather be consistent than streaky in the first place, but we managed to get through it and now we have the chance to build a big bankroll as the football season is right around the corner. I’m going to take a shot on starting our success with the Guardians and Rangers.

The Guardians are such a strange team. They have a decent enough pitching staff, but it seems like the front office is allergic to adding any type of hitter to the squad. It is strange because the division is there for the taking. If Cleveland wanted to win the division, they could. In order to do it, they need to get more consistent offense, and the pitching could also step up just a bit more. They have Aaron Civale taking the ball for them in tonight’s game. Civale has been awesome this season with a 2.56 ERA over nine starts. He has only gone 52.2 innings this year, but his stats are impressive nonetheless. His success has been more evident on the road as he has gone 21.2 innings and allowed just three earned runs. The Rangers should have their work cut out for them against Civale tonight. The Guardians righty has held Rangers hitters to just 11 hits in 46 at-bats.

The Rangers probably are one of the teams that wished the All-Star Break never happened. They had such a good start to the year, and even with the Astros hunting them down, their hitting was so good, you don’t want to lose that momentum. I have my concerns that the pitching staff won’t last the full season, but as of right now, they are doing a pretty solid job of keeping that momentum going too. The staff should be off to a decent enough start in the second half as they get to face the weak-hitting Guardians lineup. Jon Gray was one of the Rangers starters that was crushing it this season until about mid-June. He still is sporting a 3.29 ERA which is good, but he has struggled in two of his past four outings. He had a start where he allowed six earned runs and then five earned in another. His home starts have been worse than his road starts as he has allowed 22 earned runs over 46.1 innings. He does have some success against the Guardians lineup already as he has held them to just seven hits over 37 at-bats.

I kind of like the way this lines up for the Guardians and am happy to take them through five innings at plus money. Civale has been very solid this year and Gray hasn’t quite been as sharp lately. I’m going to back the Guardians in this one and hope that we can get the win here.

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