Player Prop And Total For Guardians Vs Padres

Guardians vs. Padres, 9:40 ET

There are three times that I really love baseball - the start of the season, right around the All-Star Break, and the end of the season. The length of my excitement always varies, but there are just something about those three parts that make it the most interesting for me. I love the beginning of the year where every team still has hope and believes there is a chance for the postseason and the glory that awaits. Two teams that certainly have their eyes on the postseason are the Guardians and the Padres who open a series today.

The Guardians started the season on the right foot by taking two of three games from a division rival in the Royals. They won the season opener in 10 innings, lost by one run, and then coasted to a 6-2 win. Obviously it is early, but the bats were hot against Kansas City, with the team hitting .263, including five home runs, and 26 hits in 28 innings of play. The pitching, as usual, has been no slouch either, with a 2.67 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP. Opposing hitters are just .218 against Cleveland as well. Tonight, they put Luis Ortiz on the hill, a guy that is more of a spot-starter to this point in his career than a true starter. Ortiz, in his career, has thrown to a 3.93 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP in his career. Padres hitters have been pretty good against him overall, going 15-for-51 in their chances, but just one has gone for extra bases. It should come as no surprise, but Luis Arraez has gone 5-for-9 against Ortiz. 

CLEVELAND, OHIO - OCTOBER 12: Lane Thomas #8 of the Cleveland Guardians celebrates a grand slam during the fifth inning against the Detroit Tigers during Game Five of the Division Series at Progressive Field on October 12, 2024 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)

I let out a bit of a giggle when I saw the National League West standings, because the Padres have started the season at 4-0 and are still behind the Dodgers in the standings because they are already 5-0. The Padres weren't playing some bottom of the barrel team, either. They took on the Braves and won all four of them. What I liked about the wins is that two were by a good margin, and two were close games. The Padres winning games both ways, and getting off to a nice start to the season is something they've struggled with over the past few years. I've supported them too much over the past few years, but was finally rewarded a bit with their success from last season. They are putting Kyle Hart on the hill today. He's only made four appearances in his career, but those all came in 2020 and weren't great. A lot has changed, or at least both Hart and the Padres have to hope things have changed. 

I'm not too confident that either one of these starters are going to last long in this game. I'm expecting that both will be chased by the third or fourth inning, but I do lean a bit toward Ortiz being the better of the two. For the game I think this goes over the eight runs. I'll play it, but I'm also putting in a player prop here. I want to back Luis Arraez to get 2+ hits at +180 tonight. He is 0-13 to start the year and he is too good of a hitter for that to last. I think he will do well against Ortiz again and likely gets two or more hits. Back that and the over. 

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