The season concludes for the seasons for both the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers on Sunday as the hook up in the Motor City for what will be Miguel Cabrera’s final game.
Cleveland Guardians vs. Detroit Tigers (-125, 8)
Cabrera will look to go out on a high note as he and the rest of the Tigers get a chance to to tee off on Lucas Giolito, who has struggled greatly outside of the city of Chicago in 2023.
Giolito has a 2.44 ERA with two walks and 1.1 home runs per nine innings allowed in his 10 starts in Chicago this season while posting a 6.02 ERA with 2.5 home runs and 4.2 walks per nine innings in his 22 other starts this season.
The Guardians back up Giolito with a bullpen that entered Saturday overall for the season ninth in the league in bullpen ERA, but that bullpen has had a dip in production since the All-Star Break, ranking 21st in the league in bullpen ERA since the break while the Tigers bullpen is 18th in that span.
Getting the pitching start on Sunday for the Tigers is Eduardo Rodriguez, who has a 3.40 ERA this season with 0.9 home runs and 2.9 walks per nine innings allowed while completely dominating the Guardians this season.
In three starts against Cleveland, Rodriguez has allowed one run across 21 2/3 with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of eight and picking up a win in all three starts.
Both offenses have struggled this season with the Tigers entering the weekend 28th in runs per game and the Guardians 27th with both teams averaging nearly 4.1 runs per game, but the Guardians are last in the league in home runs, entering Saturday with 28 fewer home runs than every other team in the league.
With the way Rodriguez has dominated the Guardians coupled with Giolito’s struggles and the lack of pop the Guardians lineup has, the Tigers will end their season with a win.
The Play: Tigers -115
