In MLB action on Sunday, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cleveland Guardians will meet. The Guardians have taken the first two games of the series. They will be eyeing a sweep of the Rays, one that Cleveland desperately needs. Game time is at 4:10 PM ET on September 3rd, 2023. My Rays vs Guardians prediction is that these two teams combine for OVER 9.0 runs in this game.
Tampa Bay vs Cleveland Prediction: Latest MLB Headlines
The Guardians are still facing a five-game deficit in the AL Central division. Furthermore, Cleveland is currently out of the picture in the AL Wild Card standings. With 26 games to go in their regular-season schedule, the playoffs are starting to look out of reach. Cleveland cannot afford to squander a single game as they eye a sweep of Tampa Bay.
The Rays themselves are comfortable in the AL Wild Card picture. They are the No. 1 Wild Card with a comfortable lead. In the AL East, Tampa Bay is 2.5 games back of the Baltimore Orioles. Baltimore certainly doesn’t lose games easily, meaning that lead is significant.
The starting pitching between the Rays and Guardians on Sunday will be Taj Bradley for Tampa Bay and Xravion Curry for Cleveland. Bradley is 5-7 with a 5.67 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP. He is making his first Major League appearance since late July. In that month, he went 0-3 with a 7.89 ERA.
Curry is a questionable starter for Cleveland. He had a terrible month of August, going 0-2 with a 7.06 ERA. No matter which way you look at this pitching matchup, it’s difficult to side with either team. That makes the moneyline and runline hard to make an educated guess on.
Rays vs Guardians Prediction: Final Thoughts
The OVER/UNDER for total runs have come in at 9.0 in this game (bet365). The OVER is the underdog at EVEN odds (+100). You can certainly hope for the starting pitching to give up some runs before this game goes over to the bullpen. My recommendation is to take the OVER at +100 for this afternoon game on Sunday.
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