Grab Giolito In Guardians Debut

Twins vs. Guardians, 6:10 ET

Baseball is a sport that I've done very well in for years now, but I will admit this year has been pretty average. It happens, but I can tell you that I keep fighting to improve and find different angles to play each day. I'm glad you all are on this ride with me and hope we can end the year strong as we are now into the last full month of the regular season. Tonight we get a game between the AL Central rivals, the Twins and the Guardians.

I kind of feel like the Twins are one of those people that go to the Olympics and win a medal only because there aren't enough competitors in the competition or something. It obviously isn't their fault that their division sucks, but it does. The Royals are competing for the worst team in baseball, and the White Sox are arguably the most embarrassing team in the game. The Tigers folded around the middle of the season, and, well, the Guardians we will discuss in a moment. It isn't that the Twins are that good, but they are doing what they need to keep the lead, and they really shouldn't be punished because of winning in the circumstances they are given. They just played the Guardians recently and dropped two of three and it makes me a bit concerned because I think they could lose this division to the Guardians if they aren't careful. They are sending out Pablo Lopez to the mound. He's been decent enough on the season with a 3.72 ERA and has excelled on the road with a 2.87 ERA. He's only faced the Guardians twice this season, but he has allowed 16 hits and nine earned runs over 11.2 innings. He faced them in his last start, a 4-2 loss and went six quality innings.

Tonight we get a game between the AL Central rivals, the Twins and the Guardians. (Photo by George Kubas/Diamond Images via Getty Images)

What are the Guardians doing? I've been asking this for so long now that I feel like I'm missing something. They have had injuries to their squad, I get that, but they could've overcome that. They traded away one of their better starting pitchers at the deadline. They traded away a decent hitter, and they were within striking distance of the Twins. The fact that they are still in the mix for the division kind of proves my point that they had a chance and started trading players away. Maybe they felt like they could get a good return and still potentially make the playoffs. They just claimed Lucas Giolito off waivers from the Angels and now have a guy that was with the White Sox just a month ago in their clubhouse. He's a good, young arm, that they should be able to work with. The Noah Syndergaard experience didn't last but that's okay, this one with Giolito provides additional promise. Outside of one start against the Braves, he was decent enough for the Angels. In the other five starts, he allowed 13 earned runs over 29 innings. Not bad, but not great.

There has been a lot of experience against the Twins, as you can imagine, from Giolito. He's held them to a .195 average against him over his career. This is a game the Guardians and their new starter should be able to take the win. The Twins are actually playing pretty good baseball, but I like Cleveland at home and at plus money.

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