Cubs Will Cruise Past Guardians

Guardians vs. Cubs, 7:15 ET

I've never really played baseball in a very competitive setting. I didn't even play Little League. I only played with friends, and while I thought it was fun, I didn't enjoy it enough to really want to be on a team. Now I see how much time and effort is put into a travel team and it is absurd. But, that's a different rant for a different day. My point here is that I've never had to throw a ball with a blister on my finger. I don't know how much it impacts a pitcher, but I guess it would be a lot. Hopefully, this blister is fine because I have a play on the Cubs in the game against the Guardians.

The Guardians are one again slipping in the standings. I think there is some sort of unspoken agreement between every team in the AL Central and NL Central that they want to make sure only one team from each division makes it, and no one is that much better than .500 to end the year. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if one of the teams wins the World Series just to prove how meaningless the regular season can be. In any case, the Guardians are ebbing and flowing between that .500 mark. Today they have Tanner Bibee on the mound. On the surface he has been pretty good overall on the year with a 3.79 ERA but most of his success has come at home. On the road, he has a 5.68 ERA. Over his past 16 road innings he has allowed 12 earned runs. He isn't really miserable on the road, but I don't have quite as much confidence in him as I do when he is throwing in Cleveland.

The Chicago Cubs host the Cleveland Guardians. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images)

The Cubs are back from London and looking to find a way to stay relevant so the team doesn't trade players off at the deadline. Considering that they dropped the first four games of the return home, I'm not sure I'd say they are doing a good job of that. They won't be over .500 by the All-Star break but could maybe make a nice push to get themselves into competitive positioning. The NL Central is still very much up for grabs. One of the guys that will be a key to a potential playoff or possible trade is Marcus Stroman, and he takes the ball today. Stroman left his last start, it was in London, after a blister impacted him and he couldn't continue. He allowed six runs, just three earned, over 3.1 innings against the Cardinals. This was the first Cubs loss in a Stroman start in eight starts. He hasn't had too many duds this year, but when he does, they are pretty bad games. The Cubs righty has been solid against the Guardians hitters even though he only has faced three of them.

I'm taking the Cubs at -130 for this one. I am trusting that if Stroman was really hurting with the blister, or it was going to impact him, he probably wouldn't start. He's too good to pass up in this opportunity and I think the Cubs probably win this by more than one run. I'll probably sprinke the run line as well.

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