What's good, MLB bettors? Make it a fabulous Friday by diving into today's schedule of games with us. A lot of baseball fans will be focusing on the Giants vs. the Brewers and the Red Sox vs. the Yankees.
While those will probably turn out to be exciting games to take in, I've found some nice betting value on the Guardians vs. Rangers tilt at 8:05 PM Eastern Time. Let's take a closer look at the starting pitchers and lineups before giving out our best bet for August 22.
Let's build on this week's solid 20-13 record. Let's put our Friday in the win column before turning the page to college football tomorrow! Best of luck, sports betting amigos.
Oddsmakers are making the Rangers a pretty hefty favorite in this matchup, as the opening line priced the team from Dallas as a -170 favorite at home. A little bit of money has shown up for the Guardians, so the price now sits in the -157 to -169 range in favor of the Rangers.
Judging by the run total, sportsbooks are expecting a low amount of scoring in this one. The number opened at 8 runs, with the juice on the Under in the -120 to -125 range. A little bit of cash has come in on the Under, so much so that the line is now 7.5 at most online sportsbooks.
Slade Cecconi gives up a lot of hard contact, but he has good command and doesn't walk many hitters. He also gets a decent amount of extension, and that makes his 94-mph fastball seem more like 96 or 97 to batters.
Oddly enough, Cecconi is a lot more efficient on the road than at home. He's 4-3 with a solid ERA of 3.48 on the highway, which is a heck of a lot better than his home numbers of 1-3 with a 5.48 ERA.
I'm not all that crazy about Cecconi's stuff, but I do like the fact that he mixes things up with six different pitches. I think he can get through 5 innings of work without giving up too much damage to the Texas lineup.
If it weren't for the complete dominance of a guy named Tarik Skubal, a lot more folks would be talking about what a fantastic season Nate Eovaldi is having. His K-rate of 25.5% is higher than it's been in years, and he sure isn't pitching like a guy who's 35 years old.
Just how dominant has Eovaldi been? I'm glad you asked! He's 11-3 with a tiny ERA of just 1.76. He's also been one of the best in baseball at not walking many guys. With all of these factors in play, you can see why I don't see Cleveland putting up many runs against him.
The Guardians haven't been able to show any sort of consistent offense this season, and I don't see that changing against a true ace like Eovaldi. Cleveland has an expected batting average of just .194 against him through 68 plate appearances.
Considering how good Eovaldi has been this season, I was shocked that this line wasn't 3.5 instead of 4.5 for the first 5 innings. The veteran righty has been dealing all year long, as he's allowed 2 earned runs or fewer in 18 of his 21 starts in 2025.
Throw in the fact that Cleveland has struggled on offense all season, and you can see why I'm so bullish on this Under. The Guardians rank just 27th in WRC+ for August and 27th in that same metric against righties for the season.
Also, it's not like the Rangers' offense has been anything special. They've turned it on a bit lately, but they're still just 25th against righties this season. That tells me that Slade Cecconi should have a decent outing as well. Give me the Under!